"I will not have my courtroom turned into a circus," Lady Justice Hallett warned family and supporters in a standing room-only courtroom at the Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday. Family and friends had turned out in force to support Sam Hallam, who was 18 when he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2005 for killing trainee chef Essayas Kassahun, 21, in a gang attack. Hallam has always protested his innocence.
After lunch, the prosecution barrister announced that "the application was not going to be opposed". There was stunned silence followed by uproar as supporters digested that Hallam - jailed a teenager and now a 25 year old man - would soon be free. Hallett kindly asked Hallam whether he understood what was happening, why the hearing needed to continue, and asking if he was OK to carry on. He said "Yes" in a very shaky voice.
He had waited seven years (during which time his father committed suicide); he wasn't going to wait any longer. Courtroom eight was not quite turned into a circus, but Hallam's case should send shockwaves through the complacency of the criminal justice system.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) "cares as much about innocence as anyone", according to Richard Foster CBE, in an address to the Criminal Appeal Lawyer's Association last month. Many campaigners are not convinced the beleaguered Commission does care but the tears in the eyes of Hallam's case review manager following the shock court announcement on Wednesday told another story. On Thursday, when officially quashing Hallam's conviction, Hallet said she was "indebted to the CCRC".
Hallam's friends and family were jubilant. Hallam himself was in shock having clearly steeled himself for more disappointment. He is going to need support to help him recover from such a trauma. The jubilation may soon turn into bitter anger at the failings that put him behind bars for so long. Henry Blaxland QC, the silk defending him wanted to examine how the "adversarial" court system itself contributed to the miscarriage. Lady Justice Hallett, unsurprisingly did not.
There's a buzz around the miscarriage of justice debate right now, ironic given the crisis in the world of publicly-funded law. Criminal defence work is becoming increasingly financially unsustainable, as advocates are paid less for case preparation and hearings. Lawyers such as Matt Foot from Birnberg Pierce and Blaxland QC (Hallam's defence team) are working harder than ever to get these cases back before the court of appeal. The disquiet around the safety of the conviction of another of Foot's cases, Eddie Gilfoyle increases.
The miscarriages of justice presently coming to the fore share a theme of lack of disclosure caused - at its most generous - by ineptitude and at worst by dishonesty on the part of some police officers. Tomorrow's problems may be caused by the defendant's own solicitors. There is no longer a fee payable for reading the unused material served by the prosecution on the defence. There is often gold to be found hidden deep" among these papers, noted David Jessel at a recent JusticeGap event.
The unused material can run to thousands of pages, and is the perfect place to hide evidence which could undermine the prosecution case. Unless you are a lawyer with a deep sense of justice, there is little motivation to plough through this material for no financial reward, and with many solicitors' firms laying off staff, there are fewer and fewer people available to do the work.
I went to Winchester University last week to look at a case being investigated by Brian Thornton, a lecturer in journalism. The papers on this case fill a room from floor to ceiling, a daunting and heart-sinking case for anyone tasked to review it. The driving force must be the knowledge that an innocent person is sitting in a prison cell, relying on you to find the key to unlock the case.
In Hallam's case the key came from his own mobile phone. Photos on the phone showed that at the time he was wrongly identified to have been taking part in the brutal murder of Essayas Kassahun, he was actually in a pub with his Dad. Hallam had forgotten where he was that night, leading him to give what the police believed, and which the jury seemed to have accepted, was a false alibi. Had the police used cell site analysis to investigate the mobile phone, they would have seen early on in the investigation that Hallam was innocent.
As the CCRC's Richard Foster told me, he's not so worried about the bigger cases - those with campaigns have a momentum of their own, as evidenced inHallam's case. It's the quiet ones that worry Foster. There are plans to undertake more "face-to-face applications", but the CCRC like everyone else, has been hit by cuts to its funding.
The emotional scenes in court on Wednesday was a stark reminder that there can be fewer areas more deserving of funding than ensuring that the criminal justice system in this country retains its integrity.
It is the state's ultimate power to deprive a person of their liberty. And it is the state's ultimate responsibility to do it honestly and justly.
Kim Evans is commissioning editor of thejusticegap.com, where you can download Wrongly accused: Who is responsible for investigating miscarriages of justice? free
