Oliver Campbell: Brain-damaged man appeals against murder conviction more than 30 years after being jailed
A brain-damaged man jailed for life as a teenager will tell the appeal court today he was pressed by police into making a false murder confession.
Troubled Oliver Campbell, now 53, was interviewed without a lawyer after his arrest for a fatal shooting during an off-licence robbery in 1990.
He was convicted of murder and robbery, while a friend, Eric Samuels, was found guilty of just the robbery.
Campbell’s lawyers claim his trial jury was not told the full extent of his mental health issues, nor did it hear evidence that another man had been named as the gunman.
On the eve of his appeal Campbell, who is free on licence, said: “If I win the choke chain that’s been around my neck for 33 years will come off, but I’m not free yet.
“I’m still a prisoner of the criminal justice system, still under the Home Office because they can recall me to prison any time.”
Baldev Hoondle was shot in the back of the head in his east London shop Pic: Metropolitan Police
He’s a good-natured soul who smiles a lot, is quick to crack jokes and curses his police interrogators in a largely non-offensive manner.
I asked him why he had confessed to detectives who took him in for questioning. He said: “I was under police pressure, under duress. It was like someone putting you in a room and there’s no way out of it. I felt vulnerable, 100%.”
“If they had done their homework they would have realised I was wrongly arrested, wrongly convicted and wrongly jailed.”
His legal team say: “Oliver suffered severe brain damage as a baby. His intelligence is borderline defective with an impaired capacity to process or remember more than the simplest verbal information, severely restricted reasoning skills and poor concentration and memory.”
Oliver suffered brain damage as a baby
Part of the evidence against Campbell was his hat, found at the scene, which he admitted was his, but had been taken off him by someone several days before the robbery. The hat contained hairs, but none of them was Campbell’s.
Confession under duress
His lawyers said: “His admissions to police were the main evidence against him. He was said to have made remarks on arrest and en route to the police station showing some knowledge of the murder.
“He arrived at 7.50am and at 8.02am signed the custody record to confirm that he did not want a solicitor or anyone informed of his arrest.
“In a taped interview in the absence of a solicitor or an appropriate adult he first denied involvement but then admitted that he had been the unarmed robber.
“However, the admissions were made in response to a quite misleading suggestion from the interviewing officer that he had dropped the hat in the shop – a suggestion to which he agreed.”
They added: “The detectives were plainly convinced that, since Oliver was the owner of the hat, he must have been the shooter and they were determined to get him to admit that fact.
“They deliberately and falsely exaggerated the strength of the case against him and rang the changes between suggesting that the shooting could only have been deliberate and insinuating that it might have been an accident.”
The gunman was said to be right-handed, while Campbell is left-handed.
The crime scene Pic: Metropolitan Police
Campbell was jailed in December, 1991, for the murder of Baldev Hoondle, who was shot in the back of the head as he struggled with one of two robbers at his off-licence in Hackney, east London.
He was freed on licence in 2002 and continues to live under restrictions that mean he needs permission to get a job and is prevented from travelling abroad.
He said: “Whatever happened in the past, they can’t bring it back. The person who did the crime is still out there and the shopkeeper’s friends and family have not had justice.”
He lost his first appeal, had a second application for appeal turned down by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, but recently persuaded the CCRC he did have a good case, which is being heard this week.
His lawyers said: “We can’t give Oliver back 30 lost years. But hopefully we can persuade the court at long last to recognise the injustice done to him.”
Police have appealed for information after a man was charged with murdering two women and raping a third.
Simon Levy has been charged with murdering 53-year-old Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo who died on the Aylesbury Estate, south-east London, on 17 March, the Metropolitan Police said.
In September, Levy, of Beaufoy Road, Tottenham, north London, was charged with murdering 39-year-old Sheryl Wilkins who was found unresponsive in High Road, Tottenham, on 24 August.
He is also accused of grievous bodily harm with intent, non-fatal strangulation and two counts of rape against a third woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in Haringey, north London, on 21 January, police said.
The 40-year-old will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday charged with Ms Valencia-Trujillo’s murder.
Sheryl Wilkins was found unresponsive in High Road, Tottenham, on 24 August. Pic: Metropolitan Police
He is also due to appear at the Old Bailey on Wednesday for a plea and trial preparation hearing for the murder of Ms Wilkins.
Detectives believe there may be individuals who have information relevant to this investigation – or who are yet to report incidents which have directly impacted them – and are asking for people to come forward.
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UK
Family of woman killed 56 years ago, in a case of mistaken identity, believe her remains are buried in a garden
A new “national day” to honour victims and survivors of terrorism will be added to the calendar from next year, it has been revealed.
The annual commemoration will fall on 21 August, and will be marked in a different place each year to recognise the widespread impact of terrorism around the country.
It comes after a 12-week public consultation showed 91% supported the plan for a national day, and 84% strongly supported the proposal.
Flowers left in St Ann’s Square, Manchester, to remember the Manchester Arena terror attack. Pic: PA
How the day will look, including a final name and symbol, will be worked out collaboratively between survivors and ministers, according to the Home Office.
But it will “honour and remember victims and survivors of terrorism”, encouraging survivors to access specialist support, spotlighting their stories, and educating the public.
A spokesperson for the Home Office confirmed that it would not be a bank holiday.
Jo Berry, whose father Sir Anthony Berry was killed in the IRA Brighton hotel bombing in 1984, said victims of terrorism would no longer be “a footnote of history”.
Jo Berry, whose father was killed in the Brighton bombing in 1984, with convicted bomber Patrick Magee in 2004. File pic: PA
She said: “What we remember as a nation matters. It sends a signal about what we value.
“For too long, survivors of terror attacks, and those who have been killed in them, have been a footnote of history. Survivors have felt ignored and forgotten.
“That’s why Survivors Against Terror launched a campaign for a new national day of memorial three years ago.”
Read more:
Referrals to UK counter-terrorism programme reach new high
I was reporting in London during 7/7 – here’s what happened
Travis Frain, who survived the Westminster Bridge attack in 2017, also backed the campaign.
He said: “A national day would provide an opportunity to remember those we have lost, to pay tribute to the bravery and resilience of those who have survived these heinous acts, and for us to look forward to the future to educate the next generation.”
The date was chosen to coincide with the UN International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism.
Plans have also been announced for a new support hub to help victims in the aftermath of terror attacks.
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