17 April 2026 / Dr Jon Robins

Issue: 8157 / Categories: Features , Miscarriage of justice , Criminal

Released, but no recompense

Three convictions overturned, all without compensation—Dr Jon Robins sets out the alarming failings that are ruining lives

Collectively, Peter Sullivan, Oliver Campbell and Justin Plummer spent a total of 77 years wrongly imprisoned before they had their convictions overturned. The three men have all been released from prison in the past three years and haven’t received a penny in compensation—despite alarming failings by the police and the courts.

The three men appeared side-by-side with their lawyers on a panel at an urgent meeting convened by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Miscarriages of Justice to highlight the ‘unconscionable cruelty’ (in the words of the group’s chair Kim Johnson MP) of the current arrangements for miscarriage of justice compensation and the almost total lack of ongoing support for the wrongly imprisoned on release.

Justin Plummer

In ‘Freedom: the final act’, 175 NLJ 8142, p21, I wrote about the extraordinary story of Justin Plummer, who had his conviction for a 1997 murder quashed in 2021, only to be

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Released, but no recompense

Issue: 8157 / Categories: Features , Miscarriage of justice , Criminal

Three convictions overturned, all without compensation—Dr Jon Robins sets out the alarming failings that are ruining lives

Justin Plummer

In ‘Freedom: the final act’, 175 NLJ 8142, p21, I wrote about the extraordinary story of Justin Plummer, who had his conviction for a 1997 murder quashed in 2021,

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content

If you are already a subscriber sign in

...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

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Released, but no recompense

Justin Plummer

Justin Plummer

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Charles Russell Speechlys—James Paterson

Ellisons—Samuel Flower

Sidley—Carl Hotton