A tip of the hat to Sean BW Parker and Brian Buckle for this interview (video, 30:19).
A BBC piece on Brian’s case, published two weeks ago. It starts with this:
“I just burst out crying,” says Brian Buckle, recalling the moment he read the rejection letter from the Ministry of Justice after applying for compensation.
It said it accepted Brian was “innocent” of the sexual offences he had been wrongly imprisoned for, but he had failed to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that he had not committed the crimes.
Brian had been completely cleared of the sex abuse charges he had been jailed for in 2017.
A five-year legal battle had culminated in the Court of Appeal finding his conviction unsafe. Brian’s legal team produced a detailed defence including new witnesses and fresh forensic evidence, at a three-week retrial in 2023. The jury unanimously returned a verdict of “not guilty” in just over an hour.
During the struggle to clear his name, Brian used savings and family loans to pay for his legal fees – totalling £500,000. This is equal to the total amount of compensation that Brian was able to apply for.
The letter from the Ministry of Justice came nearly a year after he first submitted his application. The assessor, who had never spoken to Brian or his legal team, said he wasn’t eligible for a pay-out because there was not enough proof that he hadn’t carried out the offences. [J4MB emphases.]
“What do I need to do to prove that I’m an innocent person?” says Brian. “I’ve lost five years of my life, my job, my pension. People are absolutely gobsmacked when you tell them I’ve been refused compensation.”
The Ministry of Justice told the BBC it acknowledges the “grave impact of miscarriages of justice” and is “committed to supporting individuals in rebuilding their lives”.
For hundreds of years it has been accepted that someone is presumed innocent until a court of law finds them guilty.
However, following a small but significant law change in 2014, if a victim of a miscarriage of justice in England and Wales wants to receive compensation, they must not only be cleared, but also demonstrate they are innocent – in effect “reversing the burden of proof”, according to Brian’s barrister, Stephen Vullo KC.
“It’s an almost impossibly high hurdle over which very few people can jump,” he says.
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Justice for Men & Boys 