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UK: M25 Three - breach of right to fair trial

01 May 1999

The European Commission of Human Rights has found that the Public Interest Immunity (PII) procedure used at the trial of Michael Davis and Raphael Rowe, two of the M25 Three, breached Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees a "fair and pubic hearing". The M25 Three are three black men who were arrested after a series of violent robberies in December 1988 despite witnesses describing the assailants as two white men and a black man (see Statewatch vol 2 no 6, vol 3 nos 2 & 4 and vol 7 no 2). They were prosecuted and found guilty of murder and robbery at a trial in which material was withheld from the defence. At appeal the applicants acknowledged that an application in respect of PII had been made but were not aware of the type of material it covered. The Commission found that the applicants were denied a fair trial confirming that existing procedures provide inadequate safeguards for defendants. The case has now been referred to the the European Court of Human Rights and the Criminal Cases Review Commission will give an opinion whether the case will be referred back to the Court of Appeal. In June all three men were refused bail pending a full hearing of their appeals.

Liberty, Spring 1999