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17 March 2023 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 8017 / Categories: Features , Criminal , Human rights
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Miscarriages of justice: The Birmingham 4

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Incriminating evidence & falsified notebooks? Dr Jon Robins recounts a deeply concerning jury verdict delivered at a time of heightened suspicion nationwide

‘Was it like this for the Irish?’ This was a question posed by Muslim clients of the human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce, as recounted in her 2010 book Dispatches from the Dark Side: On Torture and the Death of Justice. Reflecting on an earlier generation of clients, including the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six, the solicitor recalled how Irishmen and women the world over ‘knew and registered every detail of each injustice as if it had been done to them’ long before the British public became aware that ‘entire Irish families’ had been wrongly imprisoned. ‘[So] Muslim men and women… are registering the ill-treatment of the community here, and recognising, too, the analogies with the experiences of the Irish.’

Pierce argued that Muslims became ‘the new suspect community’ in the wake of 9/11. A new documentary tells the story of four young men from the Midlands

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Charles Russell Speechlys—James Paterson

Charles Russell Speechlys—James Paterson

Charles Russell Speechlys further bolsters Private Equity expertise with the appointment of James Paterson

Ellisons—Samuel Flower

Ellisons—Samuel Flower

Ellisons strengthens Rural Affairs team with senior appointment

Sidley—Carl Hotton

Sidley—Carl Hotton

Sidley adds insurance mergers and acquisitions partner to London office

NEWS
A deputy costs judge correctly exercised his discretion to allow late service rather than strike out the point of dispute, the Court of Appeal has held
Prince Harry, Baroness Doreen Lawrence and five others have lost their case against the publisher of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, in Various Claimants v Associated Newspapers [2026] EWHC 1637 (KB)
Public confidence in the justice system is being undermined by a lack of accessible, useable data, magistrates have warned
The Sentencing Council has launched draft guidelines for facilitation and endangering another person during a sea crossing to the UK
Government proposals to make independent written legal advice a prerequisite for workplace non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) may prove unworkable, according to a senior employment lawyer
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