Barry George revisited.

[Nicholas]

And what about the credibility of those individuals who’s murder convictions were overturned based on confessional evidence for example? How reliable is ‘expert’ opinion in these types of cases?

I’m of the opinion Dr Michael Naughton won’t openly debate Simon Halls confession because it calls into question cases like that of Michael O’Brien who’s murder conviction was overturned based on ‘confessional evidence’ and it will open up a can of worms he quite clearly wants to avoid at all costs; as it appears do many others.

Michael O’Brien is another bare faced liar who’s been caught out

1999

‘Michael O'Brien has had plenty of time to choose his words carefully. Jailed 11 years ago for a murder he always insisted he did not commit, he and two others yesterday had their convictions quashed by the Court of Appeal.
Standing outside the court yesterday, Mr O'Brien, said: "I have got mixed feelings. I am pleased that my name has been cleared but I also feel for the victim's family. We know who the real killer is - his name has been mentioned in court. It is up to the police to arrest him."
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/court-frees-three-over-killing-of-newsagent-739755.html

2008

“I don’t know who killed Mr Saunders, but I certainly have my suspicions about a man who has a violent past, and who once told me in the street that I couldn’t prove anything. I would like the police to pursue that line of inquiry.”

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/obrien-not-guilty-says-lie-2150029.amp?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar&__twitter_impression=true

David Jessel stated in 2013:

“It is a lesson for INUK that you always have to reserve a part of your brain for the possibility that the person you campaign for just might be guilty. A belief in innocence is vital, but not to the exclusion of key critical faculties. I’d like to hear from Michael Naughton on this.
So where do we all go from here – especially in a climate where more innocent people are likely to end up in prison? What’s needed is some sort of breakthrough in a whole category of cases; just as matters such as convictions based on identification, duff forensics or confessions made an impact that went beyond individual cases,
https://theerrorsthatplaguethemiscarriageofjusticemovement.home.blog/simon-hall-confession-a-time-to-take-stock-by-professor-julie-price-originally-published-by-jon-robins-of-the-justice-gap/

But what he didn’t appear to recognise then was that there already had been ‘breakthroughs in a whole category of cases’ and that the factually guilty has been jumping on the bandwagon of these types of cases for years.

The prison gossip grapevine is rife, ask Michael O’Brien. As is the ‘wrongful conviction’ arena - ask Hannah Quirk who today tweeted in response to the following news article https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/31/magazine/bloodstain-pattern-analysis-timeline.html?smid=tw-share

Dr Hannah Quirk
@HannahQuirk1
Replying to
@BarryAJFisher
 and
@ctmccartney
@jomillington_v1
 @insidejusticeUK
4:23 PM · Jan 19, 2020·Twitter Web App
https://mobile.twitter.com/HannahQuirk1/status/1218932040235737090

Excerpt:
’Testimony from bloodstain-pattern analysts is now accepted in courts throughout the country. But in recent years, some scientists and legal scholars have questioned the training of these experts, as well as the validity of the field itself. How did a niche, unproven discipline gain a hold in the American justice system and proliferate state by state?

The modern era of bloodstain-pattern analysis began when a small group of scientists and forensic investigators started testifying in cases, as experts in a new technique. Some of them went on to train hundreds of police officers, investigators and crime-lab technicians — many of whom began to testify as well. When defendants appealed the legitimacy of the experts’ testimony, the cases made their way to state appeals courts. Once one court ruled such testimony admissible, other states’ courts followed suit, often citing their predecessors’ decisions. When discussing the reliability or accuracy of the technique, judges typically relied on their own — or the testifying expert’s own — assessment. Rarely, if ever, have courts required objective proof of bloodstain-pattern analysis’ accuracy.

This is what David Jessel appears to have meant by,
 ‘some sort of breakthrough in a whole category of cases; just as matters such as convictions based on identification, duff forensics or confessions made an impact that went beyond individual cases,

[Nicholas]

The prison gossip grapevine is rife, ask Michael O’Brien. As is the ‘wrongful conviction’ arena - ask Hannah Quirk who today tweeted in response to the following news article https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/31/magazine/bloodstain-pattern-analysis-timeline.html?smid=tw-share

Dr Hannah Quirk
@HannahQuirk1
Replying to
@BarryAJFisher
 and
@ctmccartney
@jomillington_v1
 @insidejusticeUK
4:23 PM · Jan 19, 2020·Twitter Web App
https://mobile.twitter.com/HannahQuirk1/status/1218932040235737090

Excerpt:
’Testimony from bloodstain-pattern analysts is now accepted in courts throughout the country. But in recent years, some scientists and legal scholars have questioned the training of these experts, as well as the validity of the field itself. How did a niche, unproven discipline gain a hold in the American justice system and proliferate state by state?

The modern era of bloodstain-pattern analysis began when a small group of scientists and forensic investigators started testifying in cases, as experts in a new technique. Some of them went on to train hundreds of police officers, investigators and crime-lab technicians — many of whom began to testify as well. When defendants appealed the legitimacy of the experts’ testimony, the cases made their way to state appeals courts. Once one court ruled such testimony admissible, other states’ courts followed suit, often citing their predecessors’ decisions. When discussing the reliability or accuracy of the technique, judges typically relied on their own — or the testifying expert’s own — assessment. Rarely, if ever, have courts required objective proof of bloodstain-pattern analysis’ accuracy.

This is what David Jessel appears to have meant by,
 ‘some sort of breakthrough in a whole category of cases; just as matters such as convictions based on identification, duff forensics or confessions made an impact that went beyond individual cases,

Hannah Quirk here https://mobile.twitter.com/BarryAJFisher/status/1218790693851656192 copied in/tweeted to

Carole McCartney who blogs for an international ‘wrongful conviction’ forum https://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/

Jo Millington https://mobile.twitter.com/jomillington_v1 who some forum members may remember from her TV work on blood pattern analysis https://www.bafs.org.uk/media/attachments/2019/06/05/jo-millington-dec-2019.pdf

and Inside Justice run by Louise Shorter https://www.insidejustice.co.uk/articles/new-developments-in-blood-evidence-detection/136

By Duncan Campbell,
“Where now for wrongful convictions? Louise Shorter, a former producer on Rough Justice, sees a glimmer of hope. She now works for Inside Justice, the investigative unit attached to the prisoners’ newspaper Inside Time, that was set up in 2010 to investigate wrongful convictions. She acknowledges the current difficulties: “Unravelling a miscarriage of justice case can take a decade or more. Television wants a beginning, middle and end to any story and wants it now, and that’s hard to achieve when the criminal justice wheels turn so very slowly.”

Yet Shorter says that her phone has been ringing off the hook following two successful American ventures: the podcast Serial and the Netflix series Making a Murderer. In September, she presented the two-part BBC documentary Conviction: Murder at the Station, in which she investigated the case of Roger Kearney, who protests his innocence of the murder of his lover Paula Poolton. Her body was found in her car at Southampton train station in 2008. “The media finally latched on to what the public has known for years: real-life whodunnits – or did-they-do-its – always have been and remain immensely popular,” Shorter says.

As Wang Yam awaits his appeal hearing and hundreds of others hope that their cases are heard, let us hope that she is right and that we have not returned to the days when only a “loony MP” or the “mischievous and futile” could challenge the law.
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2017/02/rough-justice-who-looking-out-wrongfully-convicted

Wang Yam lost his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights last week https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/16/chinese-criminal-convicted-murdering-reclusive-author-following/

https://www.wntv.uk/european-court-of-human-rights/

The CCRC referred his murder conviction to the CoA in April 2016 https://ccrc.gov.uk/wang-yam/

another article of interest can be found here http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?topic=73.msg570523#msg570523

“In the mean time, Collins hopes that The Innocence Audit will open people's eyes to what goes on behind the scenes when activists are fighting to secure exonerations. "Our study is producing evidence that Innocence Fraud is real," Collins says. "But it can be corrected with education and better standards of care for post-conviction activists and litigators. The ends cannot justify the means when the means are fraudulent."
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/05/prweb12701214.htl

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZEOwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA273&lpg=PA273&dq=the+innocence+audit+john+collins&source=bl&ots=fhmDscsrNl&sig=ACfU3U3JQEhYoe2SnFPdRCnkZWDGmTWvKA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjk-ejynpDnAhVQasAKHf_ODuIQ6AEwA3oECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=the%20innocence%20audit%20john%20collins&f=false

If people like Dr Michael Naughton genuinely cared about injustice and helping the factually innocent he would have carried out something like the ‘innocence audit’ following Simon Halls confession

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZEOwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA273&lpg=PA273&dq=the+innocence+audit+john+collins&source=bl&ots=fhmDscsrNl&sig=ACfU3U3JQEhYoe2SnFPdRCnkZWDGmTWvKA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjk-ejynpDnAhVQasAKHf_ODuIQ6AEwA3oECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=the%20innocence%20audit%20john%20collins&f=false

the fact he doesn’t appear to have done so and is seen carrying on regardless leaves me to believe he is part of the problem not the solution and as such cannot and should not be trusted.

[Nicholas]

I didn't say that I have concluded that Bamber's was a flimsy conviction.  If you re-read what I stated, that part of my post was a justification for the way the system protects people against, and provides relief for, unsafe convictions.  Sometimes culpable people do need to be acquitted or have their convictions quashed.  These 'errors of impunity' are a price for ensuring we are all protected against, or at least minimally-disadvantaged by, the converse evil: state impunity.

Btw, I'm convinced the Barry George case is an example of an error of impunity

"Errors of impunity is a term used in Brian Forst's book Errors of Justice and in Robert Bohm's introduction to a special edition of The Journal of Criminal Justice on miscarriages of justice. They are defined as lapses that result in criminals either remaining at large or receiving sanctions that are below a socially optimal level.[1][2] If convicting an innocent person, called a miscarriage of justice, is a Type I error for falsely identifying culpability (a "false positive"), then an error of impunity would be a Type II error of failing to find a culpable person guilty (a "false negative").
https://www.revolvy.com/page/Errors-of-impunity

From my point of view the error of impunity in this case; impunity meaning "exemption from punishment or freedom from the injurious consequences of an action, is that Jeremy Bamber is quite clearly not being monitored adequately by HM prison and probation services and this error or lapse has allowed him (and prisoners like him) to con, exploit, manipulate etc people outside of prison.

The impunity enjoyed by Bamber and prisoners like him needs addressing with immediate effect. He may be exempt from punishment for his exploitation of people outside of prison currently but that doesn't mean things won't change in the future.

[Nicholas]

Excerpt from Michelle Diskin Bates blog on mass murderer Jeremy Bamber titled “Justice is never served by the conviction of the innocent" on the 31st Anniversary of the tragedies
https://jeremybamber.blogspot.com/2016/08/justice-is-never-served-by-conviction.html

🎀 Michelle Diskin Bates 🎀
@Michelle_Diskin
Replying to
@MatthewYoung7
@AndyGcrime
 and
@rjmyers
I’ve followed this case since it unfolded in 1985. Unless the TV news bulletins taped over all of their coverage, they should have evidence of how it all played out. I remember hearing that no one was allowed near, in case they caused the person inside to become upset.
7:45 PM · Jan 21, 2020·Twitter for iPad
https://mobile.twitter.com/Michelle_Diskin/status/1219707691934810113

[Nicholas]

🎀 Michelle Diskin Bates 🎀
@Michelle_Diskin
3h
Replying to
@J4BenGeen
 @Elsie2127
 and
@EmpowerInnocent
This is why organisations such as #EmpowerInnocent, and people who highlight miscarriage of justice are so important. If we'd known all of this, before, we might have acted differently for our loved ones. It's why I wrote my book; to enlighten others.
Image https://mobile.twitter.com/Michelle_Diskin/status/1219951884070539264

Oh but you’re not

[Nicholas]

harryrag replied
Empowering the Innocent
@EmpowerInnocent
We investigated his claim of innocence to determine its truthfulness & helped get his case referred back to the CoA. We were told that he confessed & then committed suicide but have never seen any evidence that he murdered Joan Albert. How did he do it? The fibres didn’t match?
Quote Tweet

harryrag
@harryrag
3h
Replying to @EmpowerInnocent and @ccrcupdate
Michael Naughton supported convicted killer Simon Hall - who admitted he was guilty.
http://truejustice.org/ee/index.php/tjmk/comments/how_greg_hampikian_abuses_two_positions_of_trust_in_serially_misrepres…
1:34 PM · Oct 21, 2019·Twitter Web App

harryrag
@harryrag
4m
Replying to
@EmpowerInnocent
The defence claimed the fibres didn't match? Well, they would, wouldn't they?  The Court of Appeal looked at the forensic evidence and upheld the murder conviction.
http://bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2011/4.html…

harryrag
@harryrag
2m
Replying to
@EmpowerInnocent
What evidence were you expecting? CCTV footage of Simon Hall murdering Joan Albert?
https://mobile.twitter.com/EmpowerInnocent/status/1186259466725056512

“Empowering alleged innocent victims of wrongful convictions with research, education & support
Project Director, Dr Michael Naughton, University of Bristol.”
https://mobile.twitter.com/EmpowerInnocent/with_replies

The problem facing many within the miscarriage of justice community/wrongful conviction arena is they don’t “naturally” “revise” their “(prior) belief about H“ as their denial wont allow them to face reality.
https://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~norman/papers/probability_puzzles/bayes_evidence.html

Who’s behind this I wonder?

Private Eye Magazine
@PrivateEyeNews
A motive that's been proven not to exist; a total lack of DNA evidence; a "lost" clump of hair from the crime scene and a weapon which is mysteriously absent from video footage: the new edition of Private Eye explores an extraordinary possible miscarriage of justice. In shops now
1:58 PM · Jan 22, 2020·Twitter Web App
https://mobile.twitter.com/PrivateEyeNews/status/1219982614012014592

Seems PrivateEye learned little following the exposure of Simon Halls guilt

Hanksoff03
@hanksoff03
Following their coverage of PO/Horizon case
@PrivateEyeNews
 Private Eye magazine has covered our http://RobinGarbuttOfficial.com shocking miscarriage of justice and headlined it "Appeal on the Horizon" - Please get out and buy it - This is great news for all xx
11:16 AM · Jan 22, 2020·Twitter Web App

Empowering the Innocent (ETI)
@EmpowerInnocent
The piece in Private Eye today really does lend support for Robin Garbutt’s 3rd application to the
@ccrcupdate to refer his conviction for the murder of his wife, Diana, back to the Court of Appeal. Eyes on now firmly on the @ccrcupdate to see how it responds.
https://mobile.twitter.com/EmpowerInnocent/status/1219989949623275525

‘Robin Garbutt, 46, was jailed for life in April 2011 and ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years in prison.
His trial heard he beat his 40-year-old wife Diana to death in their home above the village store in Melsonby, North Yorkshire, in March 2010.
Three Court of Appeal judges in London said his conviction was safe.
A jury at Teesside Crown Court heard he battered his wife to death in their bedroom before opening their post office and shop.
During the trial, Garbutt claimed an intruder with a gun told him "don't do anything stupid, we've got your wife" before robbing him as he worked, and that moments later he discovered his wife's body in bed in their living quarters.
The fresh material relied on in the appeal related to Post Office records going back to 2004.
Garbutt's trial had been told that part of the reason he killed his wife was that he feared his theft of thousands of pounds from the post office they ran was about to be discovered.
It was submitted on Garbutt's behalf that the pattern shown by the records "cannot be relied upon as demonstrating thefts of Post Office cash".
Announcing the court's decision to reject the challenge, Lord Justice Hughes accepted that if the jury had had the full records, "it would have supported the defendant in something that he said, namely that he had always held large sums in the safe, and the jury would have been likely to take a different view of his credibility generally".
But he added: "The premise on which this appeal has so well been argued is that the jury may have proceeded from theft to murder.
"We have asked ourselves anxiously whether that might be so. We are clear that it cannot be."
He said the court was "quite satisfied that the possibility of there having been the robbery which the defendant described must have been rejected quite independently of the financial evidence".
Lord Justice Hughes concluded: "We are quite satisfied that this conviction is not unsafe and that the late disclosure of the additional Post Office records does not render it so.
"The appeal must accordingly be dismissed."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18195427

[Nicholas]

Wrongful conviction reforms in the US and the UK: Taking stock

Press release issued: 3 May 2017

‘Dr Michael Naughton and Professor C. Ronald Huff highlight the problems of wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice in new chapter of "Current Problems of the Penal Law and Criminology," (Plywaczewski, E. and Guzik-Makaruk, E.)
The past few decades have seen a growing interest in, and concern about, the problem of wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice in many common law jurisdictions. This interest is reflected in scholarly research, in public opinion polls, and in reforms designed to prevent such miscarriages of justice.
Although this trend is clear, there has been less progress in cross-national research focusing on how wrongful convictions occur in different criminal justice systems and what those nations are doing to reduce such errors.
This article discusses the problem of wrongful convictions in the United States and the United Kingdom. It provides an analysis of the effectiveness and shortcomings of recent reform efforts and offers recommendations for future reforms.
A key driver in the U.S. has been the work of The Innocence Project, a national litigation and public policy organisation dedicated to exonerating innocent wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing to determine the truthfulness or otherwise of alleged wrongful convictions.
In sharp contrast to the ways in which alleged wrongful convictions are dealt with in the U.S. DNA is not a dominant feature in attempts to overturn alleged wrongful convictions in the UK or in influencing the reforms that have flowed from them.
The new chapter examines the differences in approach - and how this impacts a person's ability to overturn their conviction.
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/law/news/2017/new-book-chapter-by-dr-michael-naughton-and-professor-c-ronald-huff.html


“A stern warning was issued to crime laboratory administrators that some post-conviction exonerations may have been secured by innocence activists using malicious tactics, or 'innocence fraud', creating potential public safety threats as convicted felons are released from prison.”
https://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/05/prweb12701214.htm


What are Dr Michael Naughton’s thoughts on ‘innocent fraud’ and what has his research thrown up in this area?

[Nicholas]

Who’s behind this I wonder?

Private Eye Magazine
@PrivateEyeNews
A motive that's been proven not to exist; a total lack of DNA evidence; a "lost" clump of hair from the crime scene and a weapon which is mysteriously absent from video footage: the new edition of Private Eye explores an extraordinary possible miscarriage of justice. In shops now
1:58 PM · Jan 22, 2020·Twitter Web App
https://mobile.twitter.com/PrivateEyeNews/status/1219982614012014592

Seems PrivateEye learned little following the exposure of Simon Halls guilt

Hanksoff03
@hanksoff03
Following their coverage of PO/Horizon case
@PrivateEyeNews
 Private Eye magazine has covered our http://RobinGarbuttOfficial.com shocking miscarriage of justice and headlined it "Appeal on the Horizon" - Please get out and buy it - This is great news for all xx
11:16 AM · Jan 22, 2020·Twitter Web App

Empowering the Innocent (ETI)
@EmpowerInnocent
The piece in Private Eye today really does lend support for Robin Garbutt’s 3rd application to the
@ccrcupdate to refer his conviction for the murder of his wife, Diana, back to the Court of Appeal. Eyes on now firmly on the @ccrcupdate to see how it responds.
https://mobile.twitter.com/EmpowerInnocent/status/1219989949623275525

Hanksoff03
@hanksoff03
3h
Thank you @EmpowerInnocent for empowering Robin and many others. You know how much this means to http://RobinGarbuttOfficial.com having @PrivateEyeNews covering the case. Hope it helps Robin+so many others x
https://mobile.twitter.com/hanksoff03/status/1220000722282074112

Silly man 

[Nicholas]

Hanksoff03
@hanksoff03
3h
Thank you @EmpowerInnocent for empowering Robin and many others. You know how much this means to http://RobinGarbuttOfficial.com having @PrivateEyeNews covering the case. Hope it helps Robin+so many others x
https://mobile.twitter.com/hanksoff03/status/1220000722282074112

Silly man 

Criminal Cases Review Commission comes under fire by Jon Robins
January 21 2010

“The case of Simon Hall, who was convicted in 2003 of the murder of Joan Albert, 79, has recently been referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). It is the first time that an alleged miscarriage of justice has found its way to the court because of the investigatory efforts of law students.

Since 2006 Hall’s verdict has been investigated by students at the University of Bristol’s Innocence Project under the supervision of Dr Michael Naughton, a law lecturer.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/criminal-cases-review-commission-comes-under-fire-kg3zg35nrxc


“The University of Bristol Innocence Project is critical of the way in which the Criminal Cases Review Commission had handled its review of Simon Hall’s case.
"Private Eye in November 2009, made public that other evidence which could positively prove Simon Hall’s innocence was uncovered by the University of Bristol Innocence Project investigation. This relates to another burglary which occurred on the night of Joan Albert’s murder, just ten minutes away from where she lived.
"Crucially, students uncovered a statement by a witness, who did not give evidence at trial, who identified the murder weapon as similar, if not identical, to the one that had gone missing from the burgled house: it had the same colour handle, length of blade and rivets on the knife handle. Simon Hall, who has evidence that he was out all night with his friends on the night/morning of Joan Albert’s murder could not have committed the burglary and obtain the knife which could have been used to kill her.
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2010/7432.html

[Nicholas]

🎀 Michelle Diskin Bates 🎀
@Michelle_Diskin
54m
Replying to
@francescrook
@LindaMulcahy7
 and
@TheHowardLeague
Absolutely, at Barry George’s retrial for the murder of Jill Dando, a witness did a dock identification! 😱 Pointing she said...it was the defendant I saw. He was unanimously found NOT GUILTY.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Michelle_Diskin/status/1220059542563840000

[Nicholas]

Empowering the Innocent (ETI)
@EmpowerInnocent
The piece in Private Eye today really does lend support for Robin Garbutt’s 3rd application to the
@ccrcupdate to refer his conviction for the murder of his wife, Diana, back to the Court of Appeal. Eyes on now firmly on the @ccrcupdate to see how it responds.
https://mobile.twitter.com/EmpowerInnocent/status/1219989949623275525

It really doesn’t!

‘The chilling 999 call made by a 'cold-blooded' shopkeeper hours after he bludgeoned his postmistress wife to death was released today after he was jailed for life.
In what would turn into a web of lies - described by a judge as 'pure humbug' - Robin Garbutt told an emergency operator that armed robbers had attacked his wife Diana.
But a jury at Teesside Crown Court rejected the 45-year-old's repeated story that a raider with a gun told him ‘don't do anything stupid, we've got your wife’.
Garbutt, who had already served 60 customers before dialling 999 at 8.37am, had in fact battered Diana to death with an iron bar as she lay in bed up to six hours earlier.
He also told police that the robbers had stolen £10,000 from the shop in the village of  Melsonby, North Yorkshire.
But it later emerged that the couple were heavily in debt, including a credit card bill of £30,000, and that Garbutt had known his wife had cheated on him with several men.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1378499/Postmaster-Robin-Garbutt-blamed-robbers-murder-wife-Diana.html

‘A POSTMASTER who pretended to be a devoted husband was jailed yesterday for battering his cheating wife to death.
Robin Garbutt, 45, beat Diana, 40, with a metal bar as she slept then blamed it on a robber.
He was found out when undigested fish and chips proved she died earlier in Melsonby, North Yorks.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/postmaster-robin-garbutt-jailed-for-murdering-178445

Empowering the Innocent (ETI)
@EmpowerInnocent
3h
Excellent Michelle
@Michelle_Diskin
Your book is essential reading, as are the books of others who know first hand that when you are fighting to overturn a wrongful conviction you need to educate yourself on what you are up against & what you need to do to obtain justice.https://mobile.twitter.com/EmpowerInnocent/with_replies

It isn’t but I would suggest people read it (free to download at Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stand-Against-Injustice-Michelle-Diskin/dp/1910786241)

According to JB Cachilla for Christian today, there are ‘3 ways Christians manipulate people without knowing it’

Whether or not Michelle Diskin Bates knows it or not (I’ve long suspected she does) I found her story ticked each one

JB Cachilla states,

“One of the things that Christians should avoid doing, then, is to manipulate people. Deceiving people for the purpose of acquiring something or having someone do something is a wrong thing to do. God Himself does not manipulate us into doing His will, so why should we?
That said, there are some Christians who manipulate the unsuspecting and the naïve. There are some Christians, on the other hand, who didn't want to manipulate people, but their actions and words still are deceitful and manipulative. Either way, we should be careful with them.

How Christians manipulate others
If you're a Christian who doesn't know if you're already being manipulated, or if you're a Christian serious in making sure you don't manipulate others, here are some common ways Christians manipulate people.

1) Using the name of God to make people believe what you say
If there's one way Christians use God's name in vain, it's to manipulate others. There are some who use God's name to convince people to believe them, or simply listen to them.
When a person keeps saying "God said" or "thus says the Lord" every time he or she starts explaining something, be careful. The Lord Jesus Himself said that many will come in His name, but they are fakes. They don't deserve our ears.

2) Quoting the Bible to back one's claim
Another way Christians manipulate others is by using God's word to back their claim. Peter said these people "twist [Scripture] to their own destruction" (see 2 Peter 3:16).
One common example is when an abusive husband demands that his wife respect and submit to him according to Ephesians 5:22, ignoring verse 25 that says he must love his wife like Christ loved the church. This can also happen the other way around, with an abusive wife.
Greedy ministers are also another example. They keep talking about tithes and offerings (Malachi 3:10) in order to get more money. They also emphasize their authority over the flock (Romans 13:1), forgetting that they are charged to take care of them (1 Peter 5:1-4) and not abuse them (Ezekiel 34:1-10).

3) Acting religious to make people think you're ok
This one is highly self-defeating. Many Christians act religious in an attempt to hide their struggles and failures. Using a language called "Christianese," such believers may or may not know it but they are operating under pride.
When they commit sin, for example, they start talking about grace and God's forgiveness. But when someone else falls, they suddenly focus on holiness and God's judgment. This, my friends, is hypocrisy at its finest.
Such people do this to gain the admiration of the naïve. They do this to get the spotlight. Again, they may or may not know it, but they are actually lying to themselves and to others.
https://christiantoday.com/article/3-ways-christians-manipulate-people-without-knowing-it/119819.htm

Dr Michael Naughton states in his foreword of Michelle Diskin Bates book ‘Stand Against Injustice’

‘For Michelle, it was a moral obligation that she could not turn away from in good conscience: she says that she knew her brother was innocent and had to stand with him no matter what it cost or what sacrifices had to be made. At the extreme, this involved being away from her three young children and husband in Ireland at vital times in their own lives to be with her brother in England, which is presented as something that she had no choice but to do as it was what God wanted.

This reference to her Christian faith is something that gels well with my experience of other primary and secondary victims of wrongful conviction and imprisonment, particularly those I have met in the United States, who seem more able to survive and move beyond the devastation that miscarriages of justice can and do inflict, and rebuild their lives in ways that those without faith seem less able to do.’

[Nicholas]

from Mark Newby’s

“Of Course the danger of false allegations has arisen for as long as human beings have lived together on this planet. Whilst I am no Bible basher it is worth that remembering that in Exodus 20:16 it was said:

“ You shall not bear false testimony against your neighbor “
https://www.qualitysolicitors.com/jordans/news/2012/11/false-allegations-mark-newby-delivers-richard-webster-memorial-lecture

Worth listening to Dr Michael Naughton’s speech here https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P8EVLJNUGQM especially when he refers to ‘ethical behaviour’.

How Christians manipulate others

1) Using the name of God to make people believe what you say

2) Quoting the Bible to back one's claim

3) Acting religious to make people think you're ok
This one is highly self-defeating. Many Christians act religious in an attempt to hide their struggles and failures. Using a language called "Christianese," such believers may or may not know it but they are operating under pride.
When they commit sin, for example, they start talking about grace and God's forgiveness. But when someone else falls, they suddenly focus on holiness and God's judgment. This, my friends, is hypocrisy at its finest.
Such people do this to gain the admiration of the naïve. They do this to get the spotlight. Again, they may or may not know it, but they are actually lying to themselves and to others.[/i]
https://christiantoday.com/article/3-ways-christians-manipulate-people-without-knowing-it/119819.htm

Dr Michael Naughton states in his foreword of Michelle Diskin Bates book ‘Stand Against Injustice’

‘For Michelle, it was a moral obligation that she could not turn away from in good conscience: she says that she knew her brother was innocent and had to stand with him no matter what it cost or what sacrifices had to be made. At the extreme, this involved being away from her three young children and husband in Ireland at vital times in their own lives to be with her brother in England, which is presented as something that she had no choice but to do as it was what God wanted.

Mark Newby quotes “You shall not bear false testimony against your neighbor “

Unless you are Michelle Diskin Bates patron to the Jeremy Bamber campaign

Dr Michael Naughton stated“she had no choice but to do as it was what God wanted”

Did ‘God’ also tell Michelle Diskin Bates to lie about having watched non existent nighttime TV back in 1985?

Further excerpt from Dr Michael Naughton’s foreword;

‘This may well explain another feature of the book which sets it apart from others of the same genre. Written with great integrity and without even a hint of self pity or hatred towards, or vengeance against those responsible for causing her brothers wrongful conviction or who played a part in preventing its overturn or are currently refusing him compensation. Michelle has a clear focus to simply tell the truth, warts and all.’

“For Michelle, it was a moral obligation that she could not turn away from in good conscience:”

From my viewpoint, her ‘moral conscience’ appears off-kilter, her ‘good conscience’ is highly questionable and her ‘moral obligation’ seems self serving as indeed does Michael Naughton’s.

Incidentally the ‘biblical definition’ of a hypocrite is ’a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.

@ approx 5.05 here

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P8EVLJNUGQM

Re ‘false testimony’ Dr Michael Naughton states,

‘What’s interesting about that case is Tony Wild who actually did the deal with the prison officers and the police to give this false testimony, we only know about this because he stepped forward when he became a born again Christian and said he couldn’t live with his conscience about what he’d done to Dudley and Maynard. What’s interesting was he wasn’t that much of a believer in God because he wanted anonymity and protection before he admitted that he’d actually given this false testimony.

He goes on (@ around 11.30)

‘Now the thing is when we’re thinking about the question of innocence, a successful appeal against a criminal conviction is not evidence of innocence. Yeah but what this does is it shows us what the key flaws in our system are that the innocent can fall prey to.

Um, so then we’re looking at the appeal system to see, you know, how does the appeal system actually help the innocent who are actually caught up in this. Because of system rightly doesn’t care if you’re innocent or guilty, it’s about process.
I mean it’s, it doesn’t really take a view on guilt or innocence. The criminal trial is about guilt or not guilt to the specific charge that you’ve been charged with.......”]

[Nicholas]

Criminal Cases Review Commission comes under fire by Jon Robins
January 21 2010

“The case of Simon Hall, who was convicted in 2003 of the murder of Joan Albert, 79, has recently been referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). It is the first time that an alleged miscarriage of justice has found its way to the court because of the investigatory efforts of law students.

Since 2006 Hall’s verdict has been investigated by students at the University of Bristol’s Innocence Project under the supervision of Dr Michael Naughton, a law lecturer.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/criminal-cases-review-commission-comes-under-fire-kg3zg35nrxc


“The University of Bristol Innocence Project is critical of the way in which the Criminal Cases Review Commission had handled its review of Simon Hall’s case.
"Private Eye in November 2009, made public that other evidence which could positively prove Simon Hall’s innocence was uncovered by the University of Bristol Innocence Project investigation. This relates to another burglary which occurred on the night of Joan Albert’s murder, just ten minutes away from where she lived.
"Crucially, students uncovered a statement by a witness, who did not give evidence at trial, who identified the murder weapon as similar, if not identical, to the one that had gone missing from the burgled house: it had the same colour handle, length of blade and rivets on the knife handle. Simon Hall, who has evidence that he was out all night with his friends on the night/morning of Joan Albert’s murder could not have committed the burglary and obtain the knife which could have been used to kill her.
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2010/7432.html

Empowering the Innocent (ETI)
@EmpowerInnocent
If not Robin Garbutt (and other alleged innocent victims of wrongful convictions) who? If not now, when?
@ccrcupdate
https://mobile.twitter.com/EmpowerInnocent/status/1220234272348557317

[Nicholas]

Mark Newby quotes “You shall not bear false testimony against your neighbor “

Unless you are Michelle Diskin Bates patron to the Jeremy Bamber campaign

Dr Michael Naughton stated“she had no choice but to do as it was what God wanted”

Did ‘God’ also tell Michelle Diskin Bates to lie about having watched non existent nighttime TV back in 1985?

Further excerpt from Dr Michael Naughton’s foreword;

‘This may well explain another feature of the book which sets it apart from others of the same genre. Written with great integrity and without even a hint of self pity or hatred towards, or vengeance against those responsible for causing her brothers wrongful conviction or who played a part in preventing its overturn or are currently refusing him compensation. Michelle has a clear focus to simply tell the truth, warts and all.’

“For Michelle, it was a moral obligation that she could not turn away from in good conscience:”

From my viewpoint, her ‘moral conscience’ appears off-kilter, her ‘good conscience’ is highly questionable and her ‘moral obligation’ seems self serving as indeed does Michael Naughton’s.

Incidentally the ‘biblical definition’ of a hypocrite is ’a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.

@ approx 5.05 here

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P8EVLJNUGQM

Re ‘false testimony’ Dr Michael Naughton states,

‘What’s interesting about that case is Tony Wild who actually did the deal with the prison officers and the police to give this false testimony, we only know about this because he stepped forward when he became a born again Christian and said he couldn’t live with his conscience about what he’d done to Dudley and Maynard. What’s interesting was he wasn’t that much of a believer in God because he wanted anonymity and protection before he admitted that he’d actually given this false testimony.

Duncan Campbell then crime correspondent for the Guardian met with Tony Wild, here’s his version and assessment,

‘Then, out of the blue, in 1995, Wild got in touch. He had become a born-again Christian and was still troubled by the case. He had seen Maynard on one of the documentaries and "he struck me as a very sad figure and I wanted to help him". We met again on the south coast. This time he was much more explicit.

Wild had been facing charges on a series of armed robberies when he decided to give evidence against Maynard and Dudley. "I myself was facing a long time in prison - one of my co-defendants got 20 years," he told me. "I was regarded as of the same seriousness as him.

"I was very naive. I tried to put myself on the mercy of the court and the police and tried to buy goodwill, so to speak. I knew that if I gave evidence it would win me favours. It was indicated that I would receive a short sentence." He concluded:

"I went to court with a bag of lies and offered them as evidence... I have a strong belief that my part tipped things."

He struck me as genuinely troubled by what had happened. No money was ever asked for or paid.

His admission was run as a front-page story in the Guardian. Again he was interviewed by the police, but on the advice of a lawyer he said nothing to them - he did not want to go to jail for perjury. Dudley, through his lawyers, wrote to the home secretary asking for the case to be reviewed. Seven months later the home secretary wrote back, declining to do so. The case languished again. Then the criminal cases review commission looked again at some of the interviews between the accused and the police, and started timing them. Could they really have been conducted in the time claimed? A fresh avenue for appeal was opened up. Wild was approached again. This time he was offered immunity from prosecution if he agreed to tell the truth. Here is what he said:

"I would like to make it clear that the whole of my evidence against Reg Dudley, Bob Maynard and other co-defendants was entirely false in so far as it relates to comments made by them that were incriminatory."

He specified his reason for giving false evidence: that he would get a shorter sentence. He gave evidence that ways had been suggested for him to adjust the evidence to fit the facts. Today the case finally goes to the appeal court, where Wild is due to give evidence - an act of some courage, despite what he did so long ago.
full story here https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,3604,752376,00.html

Dr Michael Naughton’s assessment on Tony Wild was, “he wasn’t that much of a believer in God because he wanted anonymity and protection before he admitted that he’d actually given this false testimony.”

[Nicholas]

“A stern warning was issued to crime laboratory administrators that some post-conviction exonerations may have been secured by innocence activists using malicious tactics, or 'innocence fraud', creating potential public safety threats as convicted felons are released from prison.”
https://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/05/prweb12701214.htm

“When I ask her whether his vulnerable status was taken into consideration during the trial she explains that Barry’s lawyer – Michael Mansfield QC – took the decision not to tell the jury about his mental health problems because the prosecution insisted his previous convictions be included also.

“A conviction against women could well have prejudiced the trial,” she says.
https://www.premierchristianity.com/Past-Issues/2019/April-2019/My-brother-was-wrongly-convicted-of-murdering-Jill-Dando

In October 2018 we became aware, via Michelle Diskin Bates book, that Barry George is still being monitored under MAPPA.

Maybe Michelle Diskin Bates will explain why that is and why she’s chosen not to fight this, as she claimed her brother did ‘using his own money’ and lost.

What danger/s does Barry George still pose?