I think I understand where the Minister is coming from, but I just think we are getting ourselves into a bit of a mess here. Let me give him a concrete example. I chaired the Guildford Four campaign for a large number of years. What happened there was the discovery that the confessions were completely wrong. They were wrong for all sorts of different reasons—the circumstances in which they were taken, the way they were taken. They were just false. At that stage it is then demonstrated that the prosecution—and the original decision of the courts—is unsound and it is then dismissed. Those people are then released. They will then have to seek to prove their innocence to gain any compensation, so practically I think we are digging ourselves into a hole here and are creating a system that will cause more problems than those we are seeking to solve.
Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill
Proceeding contribution from
John McDonnell
(Labour)
in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 4 February 2014.
It occurred during Debate on bills on Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill.
About this proceeding contribution
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2013-14Chamber / Committee
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