Clare Wade QC is instructed by Louise Bullivant, Aitken Harter Solicitors on behalf of Emma-Jayne Magson. They are supported by the campaigning organisation Justice for Women.
Emma was convicted for murdering her boyfriend, James Knight, in March 2016. She was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment at Leicester Crown Court in November 2016.
Yesterday, at the Court of Appeal, Garden Court’s Clare Wade QC, representing Magson, argued that Magson’s emotionally unstable personality disorder “substantially impaired her ability to excercise self-control” and that steps should have been taken to ensure her effective participation in her trial.
Senior judges found that Magson had an “arguable” case and granted her leave to appeal her conviction and to call fresh evidence going to Emma-Jane’s Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder and the fact that she suffers from a neuro-developmental disorder which had not been diagnosed at the time of her trial.
Louise Bullivant, the instructing solicitor, said:
“It is a step in the right direction and I’m just delighted that the court has acknowledged (Magson’s) vulnerability and allowed us to proceed.”
This case has been reported widely including by the Independent.
Clare Wade QC is a member of the Garden Court Chambers Crime Team.