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UK: Two released on appeal

01 September 1992

Two more miscarriages of justice were exposed when the Court of Appeal, in separate cases, quashed the convictions of Paul and Wayne Darvell and David McKenzie. The jury in the Darvell case were "seriously misled" as to the reliability of confession evidence, said the Court of Appeal, after scientific evidence established that interview notes had been tampered with. The Darvells were among forty people interviewed by Swansea police whose interview records had been altered, according to an inquiry by Devon and Cornwall police. As a result of the Darvell case, seven officers have been suspended and the CPS is considering charges.

David McKenzie, described as a "serial confessor", was cleared of manslaughter of two old women after it was revealed that he habitually confessed to crimes he could not possibly have committed, and the jury were not told of this at his trial. The court said that where a case is based on an uncorroborated and unconvincing confession by a mentally handicapped person, it should be thrown out by the judge. That, of course, is a long way from excluding all uncorroborated confessions.

Lord Chief Justice Taylor, who presided over both appeals, said he thought the right of silence of defendants should go so that police will not be tempted to "bend the rules" by fabricating confessions.