After having spent 18 years in jail for a murder they never committed, two British men had their compensation payment for wrongful imprisonment cut by a quarter on Thursday on the grounds they did not have to pay for board and lodging during the time they were incarcerated.
The Appeals Court in London agreed with a claim by the Home Office, or Interior Ministry, that cousins Michael Hickey (42) and Vincent Hickey (49) are responsible for their living expenses during their confinement.
Despite the fact another court had found they were victims of a miscarriage of justice because of tainted police evidence and had quashed their life sentences, the Appeals Court cut their indemnity to £990 000 pounds and £506 200 pounds respectively.
The cousins, along with two other men, were known as the ”Bridgewater Four”. They were jailed for the murder of a 13-year-old newspaper carrier, Carl Bridgewater, who was shot dead as he stumbled across an apparent burglary in 1978.
One of the four, Patrick Molloy, died in prison in 1981 at the age of 53, while James Robinson did not contest his award of indemnity.
Appeal Court judges said police had fabricated and forged a confession that led to the men’s conviction.
The case was one of a series of miscarriage of justice scandals in the 1980s and 1990s, most of them attributable to police corruption or incompetence. — Sapa-AFP