Ceredigion Preseli MP, Ben Lake, will today (Wednesday 19 March) lead a debate in Parliament on ensuring compensation for victims of miscarriages of justice.

A constituent of Ben Lake MP was wrongfully convicted of a crime in 2017. After 5 years and 4 months imprisonment, the Court of Appeal overturned his conviction in September 2022 and ordered a retrial. The retrial took place in May 2023, which resulted in unanimous not guilty verdicts being returned by the jury in just over an hour.

However, despite his acquittal after having spent years in prison, the constituent has been denied compensation due to a change in the law in 2014 which introduced new eligibility test that has been described by Judges of the European Court of Human Rights as “a hurdle which is virtually insurmountable.”

The change to the compensation regime brought about in an amendment included in the Anti-Social Behaviours, Crime and Policing Act 2014 means that victims of miscarriages of justice must also prove they are innocent ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ of crimes of which the courts have already found them to be not guilty. In practice, the eligibility test means that only 6.6% of miscarriage of justice cases receive compensation.

The debate is held weeks after the Law Commission published its consultation on reforms to the law governing criminal appeals, which include proposals that alter the requirement to prove innocence on the ‘balance of probability’ to receive compensation.

Ben Lake MP will call on the Government to address this injustice as a matter of urgency, whether by adopting the proposals of the Law Commission and applying them retrospectively to applications made since the 2014 change, or by introducing ‘Buckle’s Law’. This allow Judges to ask trial juries to decide on the matter of innocence in circumstances where a defendant has been acquitted on all charges following a Court of Appeal ordered retrial.

Ahead of the debate, Ben Lake MP said: “The change introduced in 2014 has had a devastating impact on the ability of victims of miscarriages of justice to access support and financial redress for their wrongful convictions and imprisonment. It cannot be fair for our justice system to deny support to those who are forced to endure the trauma of wrongful conviction and imprisonment, and who often suffer irreparable harm to their mental health and reputation.

“No system can ensure that it arrives at the correct verdict 100% of the time, and most people accept that mistakes will be made. However, they will also understandably – and quite reasonably - assume that victims of miscarriages of justice are compensated, particularly if they have spent time in custody before being pardoned or having their convictions quashed. Unfortunately, this is the exception rather than the rule for victims of miscarriages of justice across England and Wales.

“That is why the UK Government must act to ensure that those wrongfully convicted are compensated, and I hope to meet with the Minister to discuss my constituent’s individual case to ensure he receives the justice that is rightfully his. Justice must go beyond acquittal— the innocent must be compensated so that they can rebuild their lives.”