A former High Court judge has spoken out about how the lack of legal aid funding is leading to miscarriages of justice. Sir Richard Henriques was interviewed in a programme that featured the case of a man who was acquitted after five years in prison after having been wrongly convicted of child abuse. He was not eligible for legal aid and spent more than £500,000 to clear his name. 

‘Those who undertake legal aid work are not financed to the same degree as those that do private – they are not able to provide the same service – and there is a real danger of a miscarriage of justice in either direction, pro prosecution, or defence,’ Sir Richard told the BBC. ‘That is plainly a weakness in our system.’ According to the BBC investigation, there were 31,000 trials in England and Wales last year, and in 12,000 of there were acquittals and many who go through that ordeal do not get legal aid support. 

• You can watch The Cost of Innocence on BBC iPlayer here. 

The investigation highlighted the case of Brian Buckle from West Wales sent to prison on sexual abuse charges who was in prison for five and a half years fighting for his freedom and spent hundreds of thousands of pounds before overturning his conviction.

He was not eligible for legal aid because his household’s disposable income was above £37,500 per year. The government has promised it will lift the limits on who gets legal aid; but as reporter Nick Garnett noted, that’s not going to happen for for at least two years ‘and we have a general election before then’.

Sir Richard headed the damning inquiry into the Met’s Operation Midlands which involved anonymous false allegations against high profile politicians made by a man later identified as Carl Beech. The former judge argued that there were not enough lawyers, doing legal aid work and, where there were lawyers, there was not a level playing field between legally aided lawyers and the prosecution.

Sir Richard was also critical of the police’s approach to investigations. He said: ‘Police officers, as soon as they find some evidence that tends to support an allegation, a charge follows, and the investigative process ceases – that is wrong.’

The programme highlighted what’s become known as the ‘innocence tax’ where people accused, subsequently acquitted and in some cases are left financially ruined by legal costs. Solicitor Stuart Nolan said: ‘Effectively, you are innocent, and you are taxed by the state – you have to pay for your defense when you should not.’