Andrew Malkinson has called a decision by the Ministry of Justice to lift the maximum amount of compensation payable under the miscarriage of justice system in England and Wales to £1.3m ‘below inflation’ and ‘insulting’.
‘The state stole years of my life and robbed me of my physical and mental health, yet it still wants to arbitrarily limit the compensation I receive to try to put myself back together,’ said Malkinson who had his conviction overturned two years ago. Andrew Malkinson spent 17 years wrongly imprisoned for a rape he didn’t commit. The Justice Gap has highlighted the problems with miscarriage of justice compensation – not least the 2014 law change under the Coalition government in 2014 which almost entirely stopped payouts.
- Earlier this year, APPEAL launched a new campaign to scrap the ‘brutal’ miscarriage of justice compensation arrangements (#PayUp4TimeSpent) – see here
Currently, the maximum amount of compensation payable under the miscarriage of justice system in England and Wales is £1 million for 10 or more years imprisonment or £500,000 for up to 10 years. According to the Ministry of Justice, the caps will be raised by 30%, taking the maximum amounts to £1.3 million and £650,000 respectively.
‘Fairness is the ideal that underpins our justice system,’ said Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood. ‘Where it has failed to meet that ideal, victims of devastating miscarriages of justice must be able to rebuild their lives. This uplift will ensure victims are compensated for the crimes they did not commit and the years they cannot get back.’
Once eligible, the level of compensation is decided by an independent assessor. Caps on compensation were introduced in 2008 and have not been increased since. Andrew Malkinson called the change ‘an improvement’ but pointed out it was ‘a below-inflation increase’. ‘I’ll keep fighting to abolish this cruel and arbitrary cap, along with the brutal rules currently denying compensation to the vast majority of wrongfully convicted people.’
James Burley, who led APPEAL’s investigation into Andrew Malkinson’s case, called it ‘a step forward’ but the increase fell ‘far short of matching inflation since the cap’s introduction in 2008′. ;Wrongful conviction survivors like Andrew Malkinson have endured unimaginable pain. The compensation they receive to rebuild their lives should reflect that reality, not be limited by an arbitrary cap,’ he added.
Toby Wilton, solicitor at Hickman & Rose who represents Andrew Malkinson in his claims for compensation, argued that before 2008 compensation was not capped at all and applicants received compensation broadly in line with what they would receive in a Court of law. ‘The government should return to this system, removing the arbitrary cap which unfairly penalises those who like Andrew Malkinson have suffered the longest lasting and most serious miscarriages of justice.’
