Keir Starmer made a personal commitment yesterday to review the scandal of the lack of compensation and care for the victims of miscarriages of justice. The Prime Minister was responding to a parliamentary question from the Plaid Cymru MP Ben Lake in relation to his client constituent Brian Buckle whose case has featured on the Justice Gap.
‘My constituent Mr Brian Buckle is a victim of a miscarriage of justice,’ the MP said at parliamentary questions. ‘He was wrongfully imprisoned for over five years before being exonerated at retrial. Despite a jury unanimously finding him not guilty of the crimes for which he was imprisoned, and the devasting impact the injustice continues to have on him and his family, his application for compensation was denied due to a 2014 change to the law that requires those who have been wrongfully imprisoned to prove their innocence beyond all reasonable doubt. That is an almost impossible hurdle to overcome. Will the Prime Minister consider meeting Mr Buckle to discuss his case, and lend his support to APPEAL’s campaign for fair compensation for those who have been victims of a miscarriage of justice?’