Henry Blaxland QC represented Sam Hallam whose conviction for murder was quashed by the Court of Appeal in what has been described as a serious miscarriage of justice.
The Court of Appeal has been hearing the case after it was referred by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). The CCRC had instructed a second police force unconnected to the case to review the original criminal investigation.
Addressing the court, Henry submitted that Mr Hallam had been the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice through the failure of the police to investigate Mr Hallam's alibi properly and by the non-disclosure by the prosecution of evidence which could have supported the defence case.
Henry later commented that for these reasons, the trial judge should have stopped the case after the prosecution's evidence on the basis that there was no case to answer. Today the prosecutions seem to have accepted this through their decision not to oppose the appeal.
The case has been reported widely by the national media, including by the BBC, Channel 4 News, The Independent, and The Guardian.
Henry Blaxland QC is Joint Head of Garden Court Chambers, and a member of the Crime Team.
For media enquiries, please contact Ben Walker on 020 7993 7671 or email benw@gclaw.co.uk.
