Oliver Campbell: Man with disabilities cleared of murder after 33 years

A man with learning disabilities who was jailed for life over the murder of a shopkeeper had his conviction quashed after 33 years yesterday.

Oliver Campbell said his “fight for justice is finally over” as judges at the Court of Appeal ruled his conviction was “unsafe”.

Mr Campbell was 21 when he was jailed in 1991 for the shooting of Baldev Hoondle in Hackney, east London, in July the previous year.

Barristers for Mr Campbell said he had been ‘badgered and bullied’ by police into giving a false confession.

In their ruling, Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Bourne and Mrs Justice Stacey, dismissed arguments of “serious allegations” against officers but said new evidence on Mr Campbell’s “mental state” meant they had “concluded the convictions are unsafe”. Mr Campbell, now in his 50s, said after the judgment: “The fight for justice is finally over after nearly 34 years. I can start my life an innocent man.”

He suffered severe brain damage as a baby and continues to struggle with memory and concentration.

His barrister, Michael Birnbaum KC, told the court earlier this year there were “ample” grounds to find Mr Campbell’s conviction unsafe, suggesting he was “dangled with the temptation” of falsely admitting the killing was an accident. He said Mr Campbell’s learning disabilities meant he made admissions that were “simply absurd” and “nonsense”.

The court heard officers may have “deliberately lied” to adduce confessions from Mr Campbell, who was released on a life licence in 2002.

Lord Justice Holroyde added: “A jury knowing of the fresh evidence would be considering the reliability of those confessions in a materially different context... we cannot say the fresh evidence could not reasonably have affected the decision of the jury to convict.”

The judge acknowledged the decision would be a “heavy blow” to the family of Mr Hoondle, who was killed during a botched robbery, adding that he hoped “they will understand that we must reach our decisions in accordance with the law, uninfluenced by emotion”.

The Crown Prosecution Service, which opposed the appeal bid, said: “We respect the judgment.”