Oliver Campbell: Brain-damaged man who was jailed for life over murder has conviction quashed

Published

2 months ago

September 11, 2024

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A brain-damaged man jailed for life for murder as a teenager has had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal.

Oliver Campbell was jailed in 1991 for murdering shopkeeper Baldev Hoondle in Hackney, east London.

He was interviewed without a lawyer after his arrest and later convicted of murder and robbery while a friend, Eric Samuels, was found guilty of just the robbery.

Three judges ruled on Wednesday that Mr Campbell’s conviction was “unsafe”.

Mr Campbell’s lawyers claimed his trial jury was not told the full extent of his mental health issues, nor did it hear evidence another man had been named as the gunman.

On the eve of his appeal in February this year Mr Campbell, who is free on licence, told Sky News: “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.”

Asked 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 said: “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.”

Part of the evidence against Campbell was his hat, which was found at the scene and 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 belonged to Mr Campbell.

The gunman was also said to be right-handed, while Mr Campbell is left-handed.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) previously referred Mr Campbell’s case to the Court of Appeal, arguing his conviction should be quashed.

He had lost his first appeal, had a second application for appeal turned down by the CCRC but then persuaded it he did have a good case.

Mr Campbell was freed on licence in 2002 and has been living under restrictions meaning he needs permission to get a job and is prevented from travelling abroad.

Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Bourne and Mrs Justice Stacey, said the rulings might be different “in the light of fresh evidence”.

“A jury knowing of the fresh evidence would be considering the reliability of those confessions in a materially different context,” Lord Justice Holroyde added.

“In those circumstances, we cannot say that the fresh evidence could not reasonably have affected the decision of the jury to convict.”

The Metropolitan Police issued a statement responding to the ruling: “The murder of Baldev Singh Hoondle in July 1990 was fully investigated by detectives at the time with a range of evidence brought before a jury who convicted the defendant the following year.

“We are aware of today’s decision by the Court of Appeal in relation to Mr Campbell’s conviction. We await the full Judgement and will review these findings. We will continue to provide support to Mr Hoondle’s family.”

UK

Gatwick Airport: Police release two people who were detained amid security incident as South Terminal reopens

Published

6 mins ago

November 23, 2024

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Gatwick Airport: Police release two people who were detained amid security incident as South Terminal reopens

Two people detained during a security incident at Gatwick Airport have been allowed to continue their journeys after a suspect package saw a “large part” of the South Terminal evacuated.

The terminal was closed for hours after the discovery of a “suspected prohibited item” in a passenger’s luggage sparked an emergency response. It reopened at around 3.45pm.

Officers from the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team “made the package safe” before handing the airport back to its operator, Sussex Police said.

Their statement continued: “Two people who were detained while enquiries were ongoing have subsequently been allowed to continue their journeys.

“There will remain an increased police presence in the area to assist with passengers accessing the South Terminal for onward travel.”

The force also thanked the public and airport staff for their patience while the incident was ongoing.

Earlier the airport, which is the UK’s second busiest, said the terminal was evacuated after a “security incident”.

“The earlier security alert has now been resolved and cleared by police,” it later said in a statement on Friday afternoon.

“The South Terminal is reopening to staff and will be open to passengers shortly.”

Gatwick said some flights were cancelled while others were delayed.

It said passengers should contact their airlines for any updates on flights.

Footage on social media taken outside the airport showed crowds of travellers heading away from the terminal building.

“Arrived at London Gatwick for routine connection. Got through customs to find out they’re evacuating the entire airport,” one passenger said.

“Even people through security are being taken outside. Trains shut down,” another passenger added, who said “thousands” of people were forced to leave.

Another passenger said people near the gates were being told to stay there and not go back to the departure lounge.

People outside the airport were handed blankets and water, passengers told Sky News.

The airport said its North Terminal was still operating normally.

Gatwick Express said its trains did not call at Gatwick Airport during the police response, but the airport said trains would start calling there again once the terminal was fully reopened.

More than 600 flights were due to take off or land at Gatwick on Friday, amounting to more than 121,000 passenger seats, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

UK

Starmer says UK will ‘set out a path’ to raise defence spending to 2.5%

Published

3 hours ago

November 23, 2024

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Starmer says UK will 'set out a path' to raise defence spending to 2.5%

The UK will “set out a path” to lift defence spending to 2.5% of national income in the spring, the prime minister has said, finally offering a timeframe for an announcement on the long-awaited hike after mounting criticism.

Sir Keir Starmer gave the date during a phone call with Mark Rutte, the secretary general of NATO, in the wake of threats by Moscow to target UK and US military facilities following a decision by London and Washington to let Ukraine fire their missiles inside Russia.

There was no clarity though on when the 2.5% level will be achieved. The UK says it currently spends around 2.3% of GDP on defence.

Ukraine war latest: Follow live updates

A spokeswoman for Downing Street said that the two men “began by discussing the situation in Ukraine and reiterated the importance of putting the country in the strongest possible position going into the winter”.

They also talked about the deployment of thousands of North Korean soldiers to fight alongside Russia.

“The prime minister underscored the need for all NATO countries to step up in support of our collective defence and updated on the government’s progress on the strategic defence review,” the spokeswoman said.

“His government would set out the path to 2.5% in the spring.”

The defence review will also be published in the spring.

While a date for an announcement on 2.5% will be welcomed by the Ministry of Defence, analysts have long warned that such an increase is still well below the amount that is needed to rebuild the armed forces after decades of decline to meet growing global threats from Russia, an increasingly assertive China, North Korea and Iran.

They say the UK needs to be aiming to hit at least 3% – probably higher.

With Donald Trump returning to the White House, there will be significantly more pressure on the UK and other European NATO allies to accelerate increases in defence spending.