BACKGROUND: "The family also had to meet the costs of fighting the conviction themselves. Using inheritance money, gifts from relatives and loans, they were able to put together a fund. Every line of the prosecution's case was studied, looking for anything that could help Brian. Private investigators and forensics experts were called upon. A major breakthrough came during analysis of the DNA samples used in the first trial, which a forensics expert re-tested. Brian's barrister knew the findings would cast doubt on the original conviction. He successfully applied for a Court of Appeal hearing where he told the three judges the DNA could have been planted. Despite this, the Buckles had been told not to get their hopes up as this was simply a preliminary hearing. Brian watched the proceedings from prison over a video link but found them difficult to follow. Then the clerk of the court spoke to him. "He said to me: 'Mr Buckle, do you know what's happening here now?' And I said: 'No, not really.'" The clerk said Brian would be released immediately: "The paperwork will be there within the hour. You're going home." The judges had quashed all 16 guilty verdicts. They cited the new DNA evidence and said they had no confidence that the jury had considered each count separately. The prison officers told Brian they had never before seen an inmate released immediately as a result of such a decision. But any hopes this was the end of Brian's fight faded a few days later when the Crown Prosecution Service announced it was seeking a retrial. In May 2023, Brian was back in court fighting for his freedom a second time. Now, however, Brian's legal team had a much more detailed defence and access to the newly uncovered forensic evidence. Three weeks into the trial, the jury began deliberating. After just one hour and 20 minutes, the court usher told Brian the verdicts were in. "All I could think about at that point was, 'What if I go back to prison?'" Brian recalls. "And then the foreman [went] through the 16 counts, and every single count - not guilty." After two trials and more than five years in prison, Brian was a free man."
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Buckle, from Fishguard, was convicted of historical child sex abuse in 2017 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. His family, including his wife Elaine, vowed to fight for his freedom as they were convinced of his innocence. A five-year legal battle resulted in the Court of Appeal finding Buckle's conviction unsafe and he was immediately released from prison. In a retrial at Swansea Crown Court in 2023, Buckle's barrister Stephen Vullo KC produced new forensic evidence and witnesses, which resulted in a swift unanimous verdict of "not guilty".
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Brian Buckle was acquitted after DNA evidence used against him at his original trial was found to be flawed
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "The MoJ (Ministry of Justice) said it would consider the Law Commission review's findings before deciding on any action in this area."
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PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "Andrew Malkinson, who served more than 17 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of rape, had his conviction overturned due to DNA evidence which proved he did not commit the crime. But was left destitute while waiting for compensation. Widespread media attention of Malkinson's case resulted in him receiving an interim payment in February 2025. He described the system as "not fit for purpose".
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STORY: "Falsely convicted man who spent £500k clearing his name is rejected for compensation," by Reporters Claire Kendall and Stephen Fildes, published by CBC News, on July 4, 2026."
SUB-HEADING: "Brian Buckle spent five years in prison for crimes he did not commit."
GIST: "A man who was falsely convicted and spent more than five years in prison has said he felt "sick" to learn that his compensation claim has been rejected again.
Brian Buckle, from Pembrokeshire, was completely cleared of the sex abuse charges he was jailed for, but the struggle to clear his name cost him £500,000.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) rejected Buckle's first appeal for compensation last year, prompting the former Justice Minister Alex Davies-Jones to intervene. But he recently discovered that his second appeal has also been rejected.
The UK government said it acknowledged the grave impact of miscarriages of justice and was committed to helping people rebuild their lives.
A long-awaited review of the criminal appeals system in England and Wales, carried out by the Law Commission, said its report on compensation would be published this year.
Buckle, from Fishguard, was convicted of historical child sex abuse in 2017 and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
His family, including his wife Elaine, vowed to fight for his freedom as they were convinced of his innocence.
A five-year legal battle resulted in the Court of Appeal finding Buckle's conviction unsafe and he was immediately released from prison.
In a retrial at Swansea Crown Court in 2023, Buckle's barrister Stephen Vullo KC produced new forensic evidence and witnesses, which resulted in a swift unanimous verdict of "not guilty".
GIST: "A man who was falsely convicted and spent more than five years in prison has said he felt "sick" to learn that his compensation claim has been rejected again.
Brian Buckle, from Pembrokeshire, was completely cleared of the sex abuse charges he was jailed for, but the struggle to clear his name cost him £500,000.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) rejected Buckle's first appeal for compensation last year, prompting the former Justice Minister Alex Davies-Jones to intervene. But he recently discovered that his second appeal has also been rejected.
The UK government said it acknowledged the grave impact of miscarriages of justice and was committed to helping people rebuild their lives.
A long-awaited review of the criminal appeals system in England and Wales, carried out by the Law Commission, said its report on compensation would be published this year.
Buckle, from Fishguard, was convicted of historical child sex abuse in 2017 and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
His family, including his wife Elaine, vowed to fight for his freedom as they were convinced of his innocence.
A five-year legal battle resulted in the Court of Appeal finding Buckle's conviction unsafe and he was immediately released from prison.
In a retrial at Swansea Crown Court in 2023, Buckle's barrister Stephen Vullo KC produced new forensic evidence and witnesses, which resulted in a swift unanimous verdict of "not guilty".
Brian and his wife Elaine, who remained convinced of her husband's innocence
But proving his innocence cost Buckle and his family £500,000, and the impact on his mental health has been severe.
"I suffer with PTSD, I'm on medication, I'm just always on edge," he said.
"As a family it's been really hard, it's the most horrendous thing I've ever had to go through."
After Buckle was rejected for miscarriages of justice compensation in 2024, his MP, Ben Lake, hosted a debate in Westminster to raise the issue.
Buckle's case was also mentioned in the House of Commons, and former justice minister Davies-Jones said she wanted to restore his faith in the criminal justice system.
When the MoJ then agreed to review Buckle's application for compensation, Buckle, Vullo and Lake were hopeful that the support they had received from the government would make a difference.
But in April, the MoJ told Buckle that despite a further review, compensation could not be awarded as his claim did not meet the criteria against the statutory test.
Confusingly for Buckle, the letter also said: "We would want to highlight that this decision does not affect the fact that Mr Buckle's conviction was quashed, nor does it cast doubt on the outcome of the appeal."
'Not fit for purpose'
Lake, who has campaigned for his constituent for the past two years, said the case was one of the clearest injustices he had come across in his nine years as an MP.
He said he was "so disappointed" by the outcome, as he hoped the review would have resulted in a payout "for what the state has done to Brian".
"I'm not going to let this lie. If that means that I'm to drag ministers to the House of Commons or Westminster Hall, and table questions until they finally do the right thing, then so be it."
Buckle's compensation claim was rejected due to a subtle but important change in the law in 2014.
Previously, compensation was paid out if the claimant had established, beyond reasonable doubt, that any reasonable jury could not convict on the evidence provided.
In Buckle's retrial the jury found him "not guilty" after hearing new witnesses and forensic evidence, which would have made him eligible for a payout.
But since 2014, compensation is only paid to those who can prove they did not commit the crime, which Vullo said was impossible as no DNA or CCTV evidence exists to conclusively prove Buckle's innocence.
"If you were to ask me to draft a piece of legislation that would ensure that almost everybody was turned down for compensation, I'd draft something similar to this [current law]," said Vullo.
"It's not by mistake, it's intentional," he claimed.
An MoJ assessment on the impact into the law change at the time stated that the intended effect was to lessen the burden on taxpayers.
Miscarriages of justice compensation has become an increasingly contentious issue.
In 2024, the Law Commission was asked by the UK government to include compensation and support for the wrongly convicted in its ongoing review of criminal appeals for England and Wales.
Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own compensation schemes for miscarriages of justice.
The Post Office Horizon computer system scandal has been described as one of the UK's most widespread miscarriages of justice.
Four separate compensation schemes have been established for victims to receive pay-outs, as they would not have been eligible under the scheme which rejected Brian's application.
Andrew Malkinson, who served more than 17 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of rape, had his conviction overturned due to DNA evidence which proved he did not commit the crime. But was left destitute while waiting for compensation.
Widespread media attention of Malkinson's case resulted in him receiving an interim payment in February 2025. He described the system as "not fit for purpose".
The Law Commission published provisional proposals in February 2025 which included reversing the 2014 law change so the wrongly convicted would only have to prove their innocence on the balance of probabilities, rather than beyond reasonable doubt.
It has now announced that due to the considerable public interest in the findings, the section on compensation has been prioritised and will be published first, at the end of 2026.
Buckle hopes that any change will be applied retrospectively to include him and others who have been affected, and restore his faith in the criminal justice system.
Davies-Jones said she was deeply sorry to hear that Buckle's application had been unsuccessful again and recognised there were wider questions about the compensation scheme.
The MoJ said it would consider the Law Commission review's findings before deciding on any action in this area."
The entire story 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. 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. 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;
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. 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. 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;
