Latest news with #Kneller
Business Mayor
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Mayor
Most case review applicants unrepresented, CCRC chief tells MPs
Most applicants for criminal case reviews are 'simply not represented', the chief executive of the Criminal Cases Review Commission told MPs this week. Defending the body's value for money, Karen Kneller told the House of Commons justice committee that more funding would allow the organisation to 'do more' to support applicants. Kneller was appearing with Amanda Pearce, the CCRC's casework operations director in a one-off evidence session on the work of the commission. Asked by Labour MP Sarah Russell about the CCRC's running costs of 'about £10m, expenditure of £9.5m in 23/24 up from £6.5m in 22/23', Russell said: 'I am wondering…whether you feel overall that £10m a year for 30 referrals a year, looks like value?' Kneller, a barrister, said: '[If it is] good value for money, I am not sure that is a question for me to answer. I would say every referral we find is good value for money. No-one has, I think, said what we should be finding, what is the right number of referrals because the majority of cases that we see, we do not see anything in there that would lead to a successful referral if I can use that as shorthand.' In response to Russell's question of what the pair believed would be 'the right number of referrals', Pearce, a solicitor, said: 'I do not think there is a right number of referrals. We can only refer those cases that meet the statutory test. 'You would be absolutely right that would be an awful lot of money if we had only looked at the 30 cases that were referred, but of course to find those 30 cases we have to look at everything that comes through the door, so that is 1,500-1,600 cases a year that we have to work on. Read More At least 500 Bahraini prisoners on hunger strike over conditions 'We have to look at each of those cases carefully to assess whether they meet the test for referral. If you were only looking at such a small number of cases that would not be good value for money but we have to look at everything and we have to look at it carefully.' Pearce told the committee the CCRC looked at and decided on 1,482 cases last year. The committee also dealt with remote working, the CCRC's leadership, training, and the Andrew Malkinson wrongful conviction case. On Malkinson, Kneller said: 'Without a doubt we got that case wrong, Mr Malkinson was failed. We made mistakes on that case, we apologised, the organisation apologised, the decisions made then around when to apologise are probably decisions that would not be made today. Absolutely I extend my apology to Mr Malkinson. Everyone in the organisation deeply regrets what happened on that case.'
The Independent
29-04-2025
- The Independent
Chief accused of ‘half-hearted' defence of review body after Malkinson case
The head of a legal body heavily criticised for its handling of the Andrew Malkinson case has been accused of giving a 'half-hearted' defence of the organisation in the wake of its challenges. Karen Kneller, chief executive of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, insisted she and her colleagues were the right people for the job as she faced questions from MPs on Tuesday. It comes as chairwoman of the body, Helen Pitcher, eventually resigned from her role in January following Mr Malkinson's case, but claimed she had been scapegoated. Giving evidence to the Commons' Justice Committee, she appeared alongside the CCRC's casework operations director Amanda Pearce. Chairman of the committee Andy Slaughter said: 'I'm afraid I found your defence of what is to us a hugely important organisation, I'm sure it's hugely important to you, has been pretty half-hearted, and has been really a reflection that things are going pretty well, apart from one or two difficult cases. 'And where that leaves me, comment or not as you wish, to ask whether you really feel now, given everything that's happened, that you are the right people to lead this organisation forward.' Ms Kneller said on behalf of herself and Ms Pearce that 'I think we are absolutely the right people to lead this organisation'. During the hearing, the legal boss urged the committee to judge the CCRC's performance across all its casework, and 'not only those cases which get into the headlines, which is a tiny, tiny minority of our casework'. The independent body, currently tasked with reviewing the convictions of serial child killer Lucy Letby, was heavily criticised for its handling of Mr Malkinson's case, one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British legal history. Mr Malkinson served 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit, and was knocked back twice by the CCRC until his legal team carried out crucial DNA testing that was then repeated by the commission and led to his release. A review found that he could have been released 10 years earlier if the CCRC had obtained new DNA evidence as early as 2009, and thousands of cases are being reviewed in the wake of the bungled handling of the case. Before Ms Pitcher's resignation, she had apologised to Mr Malkinson in April 2024, nine months after his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in July 2023. The committee heard from the CCRC chiefs that they did not know when they would be getting an interim chairperson as they are not involved in the process. On Tuesday, Ms Kneller also personally apologised to Mr Malkinson for the first time during the hearing. Asked whether she would like to apologise, she said: 'Without doubt, we got that case wrong. Mr Malkinson was failed. 'We made mistakes in that case. We apologised, the organisation apologised. 'I think the decisions made then around when to apologise are probably decisions that would not be made today. 'So absolutely, I extend my apology to Mr Malkinson. Everyone in the organisation deeply regrets what happened on that case. 'I can't begin to think of the impact that this has had on him. 'I mean the double impact of, you know, serving a sentence, suffering miscarriage of justice, and then the way we handled his case.' Following the evidence, Mr Slaughter also told the CCRC chief he was 'quite shocked' by the remote working structure of the organisation. Ms Kneller had told the committee the CCRC is no longer an office-based organisation which has boosted its ability to recruit for specialist roles from across the UK. Instead she spends one or two days in the Birmingham-based office every two months. But Mr Slaughter said: 'But given what's happened with your previous chair, the Malkinson case and other matters that have come to light, if I were the chief executive here, I would be in every day when there's issues, I'd be asking my staff to be there, I'd be working with those staff. 'I'd be trying to rebuild the organisation so that the commissioners and the board had a much more hands on role in that way. 'And that doesn't seem to have happened at all.' But Ms Kneller defended the move, saying without remote working the CCRC would not be doing the amount of casework needed to make referrals because the vacancies would not have been filled. Ms Pearce added: 'There is no magic to working in the office. Our staff are connected. They can speak to each other at any time. 'We discovered that it is perfectly possible to do a good job working remotely. That has allowed us to attract talent from across the UK.'
The Guardian
29-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Miscarriage of justice watchdog had ‘hole at its heart', committee chair says
Senior management at the miscarriage of justice watchdog were told there was a 'hole at the heart' of the organisation as MPs criticised its working from home policy and asked executives if they felt they were the right people to continue leading it. In an evidence session on Tuesday, the chief executive of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), Karen Kneller, was questioned by the cross-party Commons' justice committee over its failings in the Andrew Malkinson case, her expensive French business courses, and the organisation's remote working policy, under which, she told them, she worked just one to two days in its Birmingham head office each month. The CCRC has faced severe criticism over its handling of Malkinson's wrongful conviction. Sources have previously told the Guardian Kneller was given the nickname 'Karen Invisible' by staff, and described by some working for her as 'absent', with her 'finger off the pulse'. Asked if such reports were fair, Kneller told MPs: 'No, I don't recognise that at all. I have been highly visible within the organisation: weekly updates to staff, monthly staff briefings, I'm in calls and meetings all the time. So that is not something that I recognise.' The working from home policy had allowed the CCRC to recruit high-calibre staff from across the UK, enabling it to fill positions it had previously struggled to fill, MPs were told. But the committee chair, Andy Slaughter, said he was 'shocked' senior staff were absent from the office. 'There does seem to be a hole at the heart of this organisation,' he said. He asked Kneller, and Amanda Pearce, CCRC casework operations director, if they 'really feel now, with everything that has happened, that you are the right people to lead this organisation forward'. Kneller replied: 'I think we are absolutely the right people to lead this organisation.' The handling of the Malkinson case led to an apology from the CCRC and the resignation in January of its chair Helen Pitcher. Asked if she had personally apologised to Malkinson, Kneller replied: 'No, I haven't.' Asked if such an apology might be appropriate, she said: 'Absolutely. Without doubt, we got that case wrong, Mr Malkinson was failed.' She added: 'Absolutely, I extend my apology to Mr Malkinson. Everyone in the organisation deeply regrets what happened on that case. I can't begin to think of the impact this has had on him, the double impact of serving a sentence, suffering miscarriage of justice and then the way we handled his case, so absolutely.' Kneller was questioned about reports in the Guardian that she had regularly attended Insead business school in Fontainebleau over the past five years, including a course whose fees are advertised at more than £21,000 for 10 days' teaching. She said she was unable to confirm the exact figures. 'What I can say is, over the course of my 12-13 years as a chief executive, the organisation has invested around £50,000 in my development,' she added. Slaughter asked what she thought of Pitcher's resignation letter, in which the departing chair stated that some departing commissioners had advised her to remove the senior management team. Kneller said it was 'unfortunate' and 'it felt a very strange thing to say in a resignation letter'. She urged the committee 'and others to judge our performance across all of our case work, and not only those cases that get into the headlines, which is a tiny, tiny minority of our casework'.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Yahoo
Chief accused of ‘half-hearted' defence of review body after Malkinson case
The head of a legal body heavily criticised for its handling of the Andrew Malkinson case has been accused of giving a 'half-hearted' defence of the organisation in the wake of its challenges. Karen Kneller, chief executive of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, insisted she and her colleagues were the right people for the job as she faced questions from MPs on Tuesday. It comes as chairwoman of the body, Helen Pitcher, eventually resigned from her role in January following Mr Malkinson's case, but claimed she had been scapegoated. Giving evidence to the Commons' Justice Committee, she appeared alongside the CCRC's casework operations director Amanda Pearce. Chairman of the committee Andy Slaughter said: 'I'm afraid I found your defence of what is to us a hugely important organisation, I'm sure it's hugely important to you, has been pretty half-hearted, and has been really a reflection that things are going pretty well, apart from one or two difficult cases. 'And where that leaves me, comment or not as you wish, to ask whether you really feel now, given everything that's happened, that you are the right people to lead this organisation forward.' Ms Kneller said on behalf of herself and Ms Pearce that 'I think we are absolutely the right people to lead this organisation'. During the hearing, the legal boss urged the committee to judge the CCRC's performance across all its casework, and 'not only those cases which get into the headlines, which is a tiny, tiny minority of our casework'. The independent body, currently tasked with reviewing the convictions of serial child killer Lucy Letby, was heavily criticised for its handling of Mr Malkinson's case, one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British legal history. Mr Malkinson served 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit, and was knocked back twice by the CCRC until his legal team carried out crucial DNA testing that was then repeated by the commission and led to his release. A review found that he could have been released 10 years earlier if the CCRC had obtained new DNA evidence as early as 2009, and thousands of cases are being reviewed in the wake of the bungled handling of the case. Before Ms Pitcher's resignation, she had apologised to Mr Malkinson in April 2024, nine months after his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in July 2023. The committee heard from the CCRC chiefs that they did not know when they would be getting an interim chairperson as they are not involved in the process. On Tuesday, Ms Kneller also personally apologised to Mr Malkinson for the first time during the hearing. Asked whether she would like to apologise, she said: 'Without doubt, we got that case wrong. Mr Malkinson was failed. 'We made mistakes in that case. We apologised, the organisation apologised. 'I think the decisions made then around when to apologise are probably decisions that would not be made today. 'So absolutely, I extend my apology to Mr Malkinson. Everyone in the organisation deeply regrets what happened on that case. 'I can't begin to think of the impact that this has had on him. 'I mean the double impact of, you know, serving a sentence, suffering miscarriage of justice, and then the way we handled his case.' At 2.30pm today, we will hold our evidence session on the work of the Criminal Cases Review Commission. You can watch it on Parliament Live: — Justice Committee (@CommonsJustice) April 29, 2025 Following the evidence, Mr Slaughter also told the CCRC chief he was 'quite shocked' by the remote working structure of the organisation. Ms Kneller had told the committee the CCRC is no longer an office-based organisation which has boosted its ability to recruit for specialist roles from across the UK. Instead she spends one or two days in the Birmingham-based office every two months. But Mr Slaughter said: 'But given what's happened with your previous chair, the Malkinson case and other matters that have come to light, if I were the chief executive here, I would be in every day when there's issues, I'd be asking my staff to be there, I'd be working with those staff. 'I'd be trying to rebuild the organisation so that the commissioners and the board had a much more hands on role in that way. 'And that doesn't seem to have happened at all.' But Ms Kneller defended the move, saying without remote working the CCRC would not be doing the amount of casework needed to make referrals because the vacancies would not have been filled. Ms Pearce added: 'There is no magic to working in the office. Our staff are connected. They can speak to each other at any time. 'We discovered that it is perfectly possible to do a good job working remotely. That has allowed us to attract talent from across the UK.'
The Herald Scotland
29-04-2025
- The Herald Scotland
Chief accused of ‘half-hearted' defence of review body after Malkinson case
It comes as chairwoman of the body, Helen Pitcher, eventually resigned from her role in January following Mr Malkinson's case, but claimed she had been scapegoated. Giving evidence to the Commons' Justice Committee, she appeared alongside the CCRC's casework operations director Amanda Pearce. Chairman of the committee Andy Slaughter said: 'I'm afraid I found your defence of what is to us a hugely important organisation, I'm sure it's hugely important to you, has been pretty half-hearted, and has been really a reflection that things are going pretty well, apart from one or two difficult cases. 'And where that leaves me, comment or not as you wish, to ask whether you really feel now, given everything that's happened, that you are the right people to lead this organisation forward.' Ms Kneller said on behalf of herself and Ms Pearce that 'I think we are absolutely the right people to lead this organisation'. During the hearing, the legal boss urged the committee to judge the CCRC's performance across all its casework, and 'not only those cases which get into the headlines, which is a tiny, tiny minority of our casework'. The independent body, currently tasked with reviewing the convictions of serial child killer Lucy Letby, was heavily criticised for its handling of Mr Malkinson's case, one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British legal history. Mr Malkinson served 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit, and was knocked back twice by the CCRC until his legal team carried out crucial DNA testing that was then repeated by the commission and led to his release. A review found that he could have been released 10 years earlier if the CCRC had obtained new DNA evidence as early as 2009, and thousands of cases are being reviewed in the wake of the bungled handling of the case. Before Ms Pitcher's resignation, she had apologised to Mr Malkinson in April 2024, nine months after his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in July 2023. The committee heard from the CCRC chiefs that they did not know when they would be getting an interim chairperson as they are not involved in the process. On Tuesday, Ms Kneller also personally apologised to Mr Malkinson for the first time during the hearing. Asked whether she would like to apologise, she said: 'Without doubt, we got that case wrong. Mr Malkinson was failed. 'We made mistakes in that case. We apologised, the organisation apologised. 'I think the decisions made then around when to apologise are probably decisions that would not be made today. 'So absolutely, I extend my apology to Mr Malkinson. Everyone in the organisation deeply regrets what happened on that case. 'I can't begin to think of the impact that this has had on him. 'I mean the double impact of, you know, serving a sentence, suffering miscarriage of justice, and then the way we handled his case.' At 2.30pm today, we will hold our evidence session on the work of the Criminal Cases Review Commission. You can watch it on Parliament Live: — Justice Committee (@CommonsJustice) April 29, 2025 Following the evidence, Mr Slaughter also told the CCRC chief he was 'quite shocked' by the remote working structure of the organisation. Ms Kneller had told the committee the CCRC is no longer an office-based organisation which has boosted its ability to recruit for specialist roles from across the UK. Instead she spends one or two days in the Birmingham-based office every two months. But Mr Slaughter said: 'But given what's happened with your previous chair, the Malkinson case and other matters that have come to light, if I were the chief executive here, I would be in every day when there's issues, I'd be asking my staff to be there, I'd be working with those staff. 'I'd be trying to rebuild the organisation so that the commissioners and the board had a much more hands on role in that way. 'And that doesn't seem to have happened at all.' But Ms Kneller defended the move, saying without remote working the CCRC would not be doing the amount of casework needed to make referrals because the vacancies would not have been filled. Ms Pearce added: 'There is no magic to working in the office. Our staff are connected. They can speak to each other at any time. 'We discovered that it is perfectly possible to do a good job working remotely. That has allowed us to attract talent from across the UK.'
