MPs today demanded the resignation of the chief executive of the Criminal Cases Review Commission - saying the organisation has shown ‘remarkable inability to learn from its own mistakes’.
In an excoriating report Leadership of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the House of Commons justice committee concludes that it is no longer tenable for barrister Karen Kneller to continue in her role.
Criticising the CCRC’s leadership, the report questioned Kneller’s evidence to the committee on the impact of being short-staffed. ‘This is further evidence that the CCRC leadership does not appear to us to be treating this issue with the seriousness it warrants,’ it stated.
‘It appears to us that the senior leaders have not been doing enough to challenge the Ministry of Justice and ensure that it has the resources it needs to carry out its functions. We are unclear whether this is due to a lack of robust lobbying on the part of the commission’s leadership or a failing on the Ministry of Justice’s part to provide the commission with the support that it needs.’
The committee focused part of its 74-page report on the independent review into the CCRC's handling of the Andrew Malkinson miscarriage of justice.
The answers of Kneller and Amanda Pearce, casework operations director, ‘did not inspire confidence’, it said. ‘On the contrary, their partial nature led Chris Henley KC, the author of the independent review and a criminal barrister, and Chris Webb, a crisis communications consultant, to write to us to correct points made by Karen Kneller on 29 April.
‘This has only served to reinforce the sense that the leadership of the CCRC has continually failed to learn from its mistakes. As a result of our concerns regarding the performance of the CCRC and the unpersuasive evidence Karen Kneller provided to the committee, we no longer feel that it is tenable for her to continue as chief executive.'
Meanwhile the committee was ‘shocked by the CCRC leadership’s decision to turn the organisation fully remote’ which was ‘out of step with the rest of the public sector’ and ‘seems unsuited to the nature of their work’.
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It said: ‘Amanda Pearce told us that that there was “no magic” to working in the office. Although we would not describe it as “magic”, we believe that there is much to be gained for staff and their work from interacting in the office.’
The committee recommended the CCRC move to a hybrid working model to ‘ensure that it operates more effectively’ and senior leadership ‘should have a regular presence in the office’.
Senior leadership ‘could have done much more in their evidence to reassure us that they understood the seriousness of the criticisms it has faced and the need for an overhaul of the organisation to rebuild public trust and provide applicants to the CCRC with the justice they deserve’, the report said.
‘For an organisation that is designed to identify failures within the criminal justice system, the CCRC’s leadership has shown a remarkable inability to learn from its own mistakes.’
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