UKGI00003156
UKGI00003156
Sparrow and the CCRC
The Board had a question yesterday about CCRC which I was unable to answer. I have had lawyers
and others help me with the response below:
The Board asked about the intervention of the Criminal Cases Review Commission and whether we
could have proactively approached the Commission.
The CCRC is an independent public body which reviews possible miscarriages of justice in the
criminal courts.
We have been in communication with the CCRC since Second Sight's first report was published in
July 2013. The last contact was a 5 June 2014 letter confirming we had finished our review of past
prosecutions and inviting further contact if the CCRC required.
Since then, we have not identified anything through the Scheme to suggest a conviction is unsafe,
and no appeal has been made against a conviction, usually a key prerequisite to a CCRC review.
There has not therefore been anything for us to proactively report to the CCRC, and it appears that
its latest intervention has been prompted by external influences.
As you know our approach to criminal cases was independently reviewed by Brian Altman QC, a
former First Senior Treasury Counsel. The CCRC has asked to see his report on the cases, and we are
engaging with the CCRC to provide this to them within the specified time periods
Best wishes,
Mark