CCRC appeal scrutiny

Just fewer than two-thirds of the cases referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) have resulted in convictions being quashed - however, there are signs that the court is taking a tougher line with appeals.

The commission's annual report shows that the court has quashed convictions in 77 of the 133 referrals it has so far considered since the commission started work on 31 March 1997, while a further 10 sentences were varied.

The remaining 46 convictions were upheld.

Another 63 referrals await determination.

In the year to March 2003, 932 applications were made to the CCRC, a 12% increase on the previous year.

Thirty-five were referred to the Court of Appeal.

The commission is still considering 365 cases, and 282 cases are waiting at various stages of its review process, compared to a peak of 1,208 cases waiting at the end of March in 1999.

But Criminal Appeal Lawyers Association chairman Campbell Malone, a partner at Bolton-based Stephensons, pointed to the fact that the number of referrals to the Court of Appeal by the commission dropped from 45 in 2000/01, to 38 in 2001/02 and 35 in 2002/03.

'This could be confirmation of what I have heard anecdotally that the Court of Appeal is taking a tougher line with referrals and the commission is having to think more carefully about them,' he said.

Chris Baker