In a highly unusual case at Oxford Crown Court, the defendant was tried for murder 10 years after he was convicted of the victim’s attempted murder.
Despite the prosecution’s reliance on that conviction as proof that the defendant stabbed the victim and despite uncontested expert evidence that the stabbing had caused the victim’s death nearly a decade later, the defence was able to satisfy the jury on a balance of probabilities that the defendant had been wrongly identified and he was unanimously acquitted.
The trial received local press coverage.
Peter Wilcock QC and David Emanuel are both members of Garden Court’s Crime and Criminal Appeals teams. They were instructed by Correna Platt at Stephensons Solicitors LLP.