This page is dedicated to on going concerns over the miscarriage compensation scheme and the Government amendments to the scheme which now make it virtually impossible for any claimant to achieve compensation . It will be regularly updated .
There is a long history to the on going legal challenges which have now been heard before 7 Justices at the Supreme Court on 9th and 10th May 2018 . Judgment will be given on 30th January 2019 and once issued we will provide further comment here .
Judgement is currently awaited .
Hearing Post Script : The Hearing completed on the 9th May 2018 and we now await the decision of the Supreme Court . This can take several months and we expect it in the Autumn Term 2018 . You can watch the Full 2 Day Hearing via this link https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2017-0001.html
The Scheme under which the Government is required to pay compensation has been through an ever restrictive approach and in recent years following the case of Ali and others , a new statutory test was imposed .
Previously the test effectively required a successful appellant to show that as a result of the newly discovered fact ( which led to the successful appeal ) that no jury properly directed would convict .
The New Test imposed now known as 1ZA is that an applicant must show beyond reasonable doubt that as a result of the newly discovered fact they did not commit the offence .
It would be apparent to any reader that this test effectively requires the person to prove their innocence and in almost every case it would be practicably impossible to do so .
The issues had been visited previously by the European Court who held that if a domestic scheme required a person to prove innocence that would amount to an infringement of Article 6 ( 2 ) . In the Case of Allen it found it did not but that was before the change in the law .
It is the current Claimants cases Nealon ( represented by QS Jordans ) and Hallam ( represented by Birnberg Peirce ) that the current scheme does infringe those rights .
As Mark Newby said :
How we deal with those we have wrongfully convicted after their convictions are quashed says everything about the sort of society we are . It should be our obligation to compensate those whom we have wrong fully taken large parts of their lives away from
Nealon is represented by Dinah Rose QC and Matt Stanbury
Hallam is represented by Heather Williams QC and Adam Straw
Useful Links for readers on this issue
Supreme Court – https://www.supremecourt.uk/news/permission-to-appeal-decision-13-april-2017.html
Court of Appeal Judgment http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2016/355.html
Admin Court Judgment http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2015/1565.html
Adams Case ( previous Supreme Court Judgment ) http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKSC/2011/18.html
Allen Case ( European Court ) http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/fre?i=001-122859#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-122859%22]}
Ali & Others ( Only successful applicant was Lawless represented by QS Jordans ) http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2013/72.html
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