Brain-damaged man jailed for life for 1991 murder has conviction quashed after police 'bulled' a confession from him
11 September 2024, 10:51 | Updated: 11 September 2024, 11:03
A man who was jailed for life in 1991 for the murder of a shopkeeper in London has had his conviction quashed at the Court of Appeal.
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Oliver Campbell was jailed for life in 1991 for murdering shopkeeper Baldev Hoondle in Hackney, London the previous July.
He was released in 2002 and has now had his ‘unsafe’ conviction quashed.
Campbell, who suffered brain damage as a baby, was “badgered and bullied” by police into giving a false confession, a Court of Appeal hearing heard.
Three judges ruled on Wednesday that Oliver Campbell's conviction for the murder of Mr Hoondle in Hackney in July 1990 was "unsafe".
Mr Campbell was 21 when he was jailed following a trial at the Old Bailey, having also been convicted of conspiracy to rob.
His case was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, in 2022, with barristers telling the court in February that "compelling" new evidence proved Mr Campbell "cannot be" the killer.
In their ruling, Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Bourne and Mrs Justice Stacey, said they had "concluded that the convictions are unsafe".
He said: "We accept that, considered in the light of the fresh evidence, the rulings might be different."
He continued: "A jury knowing of the fresh evidence would be considering the reliability of those confessions in a materially different context.
"In those circumstances, we cannot say that the fresh evidence could not reasonably have affected the decision of the jury to convict."
