The chief executive of the Criminal Cases Review Commission has resigned - weeks after MPs described her position as 'untenable'. Barrister Karen Kneller became chief executive of the miscarriages of justice watchdog in 2013 after joining as a director of casework in 2005.
In May this year, the Commons justice committee said it was ‘untenable’ for barrister Kneller to continue in her role. The commitee’s report criticised Kneller’s evidence on staffing shortages as ‘further evidence that the CCRC leadership does not appear to us to be treating this issue with the seriousness it warrants’. Kneller also came under fire for revealing that she came into the office 'one or two days every couple of months'.
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Dame Vera Baird was appointed as chair of the CCRC last month and has been tasked by the lord chancellor with carrying out a review of the organisation.
She said: ‘The CCRC has a vital role to play in the criminal justice system, but confidence in the organisation has been badly damaged. Confidence in our work must be restored. I thank Karen for her work at the CCRC over many years.’
Amanda Pearce, CCRC casework operations director, has been appointed interim chief executive. She was also criticised in the justice committee's report, which said Kneller and Pearce’s answers over the case of Andrew Malkinson, who served 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit, ‘did not inspire confidence’.
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