PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Shame on the British government for its horrific policy of requiring victims of miscarriages of justice to pay "bed and board" for their wrongful convictions at the hands of the state. I was taught at law school that Britain was 'the cradle of the common law.' Far from it, any justice system, that inflicts such punishment on people such as Paul Blackburn and Michael O'Brien, whose freedom has been wrongly wrested away from them, deserves our contempt. The Justice Gap performs an important public service by fighting against this untenable practice. In its own words: "We are a magazine about law and justice and the difference between."
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "‘This is not about us three. It’s about every individual who’s been wrongly convicted and then charged for their stay in prison – they should never have been there in the first place. It is estimated that hundreds could be affected by this policy. This practice adds insult to injury for victims of wrongful convictions and must be dressed immediately.’Michael O’Brien of the Cardiff Newsagent Three;
STORY: "Legal challenge to ‘bed & board’ deductions from compensation for the wrongly convicted," by Jon Robins, published by The Justice Gap, on May 7m 2025. (Jon Robins is editor of the Justice Gap. He is a criminology lecturer at Brighton University and a freelance journalist. Books include Justice in a Time of Austerity (Bristol University Press, 2021), Guilty Until Proven Innocent (Biteback, 2018), The First Miscarriage of Justice (Waterside Press, 2014), The Justice Gap (LAG, 2009) and People Power (Daily Telegraph/LawPack, 2008).
GIST: "Two men who collectively spent 37 years in prison for crimes they did not commit are challenging deductions made for the cost of ‘bed and board’ from their compensation payments.
Paul Blackburn (pictured above), who spent 25 years in prison before clearing his name, had £100,000 deducted from his compensation payout to represent his living expenses outside prison. He is behind a legal action together with Michael O’Brien who was wrongly convicted of the brutal murder of a Cardiff newsagent – O’Brien together with Darren Hall and Ellis Sherwood each had £37,500 deducted after they served nearly 12 years in prison.
As has been reported on the Justice Gap, compensation for the victims of miscarriages of justice was pretty much wiped out as a result of the a change to the regime introduced by Chris Grayling as justice secretary under the Coalition Government in 2014 – now successful applicants have to be able to demonstrate to the Ministry of Justice that they can prove their innocence ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’. Both Blackburn and O’Brien received compensation before the 2014 change .
- You can read about the Paul Blackburn case on the Justice Gap in an article by Mark George QC here; and an interview with Michael O’Brien by Calum McRae here
The two men have launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise £100,000 for legal costs the government for charging the victims of miscarriages of justice for their ‘bed and board’. ‘In the wake of Andy Malkinson‘s conviction being questioned in 2023, Alex Chalk KC MP of the Ministry of Justice stated that such charges would be stopped,’ commented O’Brien. ‘He also mentioned considering reimbursing those have already been charged this deduction.’
‘This is not about us three. It’s about every individual who’s been wrongly convicted and then charged for their stay in prison – they should never have been there in the first place. It is estimated that hundreds could be affected by this policy. This practice adds insult to injury for victims of wrongful convictions and must be dressed immediately.’
Michael O’Brien of the Cardiff Newsagent Three
Paul Blackburn pointed out that Michael O’Brien has been refused legal aid. ‘And I have been told, I am not eligible as I own my own house and would be expected to become homeless in order to pay for our case to go forward.’
You can support the campaign here.
The Justice Gap is an online magazine about the law and justice run by journalists.
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Our print magazine is Proof. Contributors include Michael Mansfield QC, Bob Woffinden, David Rose, Eric Allison and Ian Cobain.
The latest issue 'The Other Ones' includes the Birmingham Four, Andrew Malkinson's fight for justice, the scandal of Joint Enterprise convictions, and much more.
The entire commentary can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
———————————————————————————————
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
—————————————————————————————————
FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
