Having to admit guilt in order to win parole is wrong
In 1989, Freeman was convicted of killing a vagrant whose partially burnt body was discovered in his home. The prosecution relied on questionable pathology evidence to claim that the victim was suffocated using a 19th-century 'burking' technique. Freeman has always maintained his innocence. His refusal to confess to the crime has ensured his continued incarceration.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has now concluded there is 'a real possibility' that the Court of Appeal will quash his conviction. The question is whether justice will come in time for a man who is terminally ill and has been separated from his family for nearly four decades.
Freeman's ordeal highlights two chronic failings in our justice system: first, that wrongful convictions happen far more often than the state cares to admit; and second, that our parole system cruelly insists that prisoners convicted of serious offences must admit guilt before they can be released, even when they are protesting innocence.
The case of Andrew Malkinson is another recent reminder of what is wrong. Malkinson spent 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit. DNA evidence eventually cleared him, but not before the system had dismissed his appeals, ignored emerging evidence and treated his steadfast claim of innocence as an obstacle to his release.
Cases such as Freeman's and Malkinson's are indictments of a process that places too much trust in flawed evidence, resists admitting error and coerces the innocent into impossible moral compromises. How many languish behind bars, wasting years — even lifetimes — because of false allegations, botched investigations, wrongful imprisonment and a state too proud to say it was wrong? The true number is a figure that, if ever revealed, would be difficult for Britain to swallow — and even harder to reconcile with any claim that our country is a paragon of fairness and justice.
• Andrew Malkinson: 'What do you think a false rape conviction does to a man's mind?'
What should change? First, the requirement for prisoners to admit guilt to qualify for parole must be abolished. Second, the CCRC needs greater independence, resources and powers to compel the disclosure of evidence. It should not take decades for fresh evidence to be properly considered. Third, there must be genuine accountability for police and prosecutors who withhold or distort evidence and for expert witnesses whose flawed testimony helps secure wrongful convictions.
Finally, we must change the culture. The justice system must remember that its duty is not to secure convictions at all costs but to seek the truth. That means being willing to revisit cases, admit mistakes and put fairness before finality.
Harvey Proctor is a former Conservative MP and the president of Facing Allegations in Contexts of Trust
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