Cancer sufferer jailed TWICE for robbery has unsafe convictions overturned after decade-long fight this man has been by my side when i met him when we were camping outside Greater Manchester Police Head quarters, we were their for 7 weeks which was where we met Court of Appeal says review was based on credibility of West Midlands police officers involved in case against Moston man Martin Faron Meet my old Mate Martin Foran he ha been helping me uncover the truth with Greater Manchester corrupt police regarding the assassination and murder execution of my late cousin Anthony Paul Grainger was jailed for 20 years and has been fighting to clear his name for another 20 years the home office tried to have Martin murdered in his cell but it backfired Martin is very ill through going on hunger strike whilst in prison he also states that assisted suicides happen in jail A pensioner who served two jail sentences after being found guilty of robbery has finally won a 28-year fight to have his convictions overturned. Cancer sufferer Martin Foran, 70, from Moston, has won an appeal against convictions for four counts of robbery dating back to 1978. His success at the Court of Appeal today follows an earlier victory at the same court last year when judges overturned his “unsafe” 1985 convictions for robbery and conspiracy to rob. His 1978 convictions have now also been ruled unsafe and quashed. The announcement was made by Lord Justice Pitchford, Mr Justice Dingemans and Mr Justice William Davis, sitting in London. In June 1978, following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court, he was jailed for a total of ten years. And in May 1985 Mr Foran was sentenced to an eight-year jail term. Both sets of convictions were reviewed by the Court of Appeal after they were referred to the court by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates possible miscarriages of justice. When the CCRC announced it was referring the 1978 convictions, it said it was doing so based upon evidence relating to the credibility of officers of the West Midlands Police Serious Crime Squad who were involved in the case against Mr Foran. The squad was disbanded in 1989 - an investigation by another force revealed malpractice which included physical abuse, the generation of false confessions, the planting of evidence and the mishandling of informants. At least 33 convictions resulting from tainted evidence given by members of the squad have been quashed by the Court of Appeal - including the convictions of the Birmingham Six. In today’s ruling, Lord Justice Pitchford said the grounds for referring Mr Foran’s 1978 convictions to the court were that “further information has come to light that casts doubt upon the prosecution case proved by police officers that the appellant had confessed to the ... offences; accordingly, that the verdicts were unsafe”. He said it was acknowledged on both sides that the evidence that was critical to the convictions related to the admissions allegedly made to police officers. Announcing the decision to quash the convictions, he said: “While we are quite unable to make findings adverse to the credibility of any officer, we cannot be sure ... that a verdict based upon these alleged confessions is a safe verdict.” He said that in April last year three Court of Appeal judges quashed the 1985 convictions “on the ground that police evidence was tainted”. He added: “However, the evidence under scrutiny in that case concerned an offence which took place in September 1984 and concerned police officers none of whom were involved in the investigation which is the subject of the present appeal.” Mr Foran first appealed his sentence in 1986 and again in 1995 but both were rejected. Confession evidence was at the centre of Mr Foran’s earlier appeals. The court was told he had always denied making a confession when questioned by police after a Birmingham publican was attacked at his home. manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/cancer-sufferer-jailed-twice-robbery-7953122
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 18:10:31 +0000
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