Criminal Cases Review Commission under fire as Government seeks to remove boss

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has come under fire for not publicly acknowledging the Government’s bid to remove its boss over the litany of failings in the Andrew Malkinson case.

A review published in July found wrongly jailed Mr Malkinson was failed by the body and could have been exonerated nearly a decade earlier, prompting Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood to say its chairwoman Helen Pitcher was “unfit to fulfil her duties” and seek her “removal” from post.

Mr Malkinson, who spent 17 years behind bars for a rape he did not commit, called for a complete overhaul of the CCRC in the wake of the findings as he said the body “obstructed my fight for justice”.

He also repeated demands for Ms Pitcher to be fired and stripped of her OBE as the report laid bare how the CCRC failed to act on several chances to correct the miscarriage of justice.

Police last year arrested a new suspect on suspicion of the rape after the discovery of the new DNA evidence.

Opening the CCRC’s “fifth annual open board meeting” on Tuesday – the body’s first public board meeting since the summer’s revelations – Ms Pitcher said “clearly we have had a busy year, a lot has been happening”.

But no mention was made of the Justice Secretary’s bid to dismiss her or her resisting calls to resign during the hour-long session.

While reference was made to the work being carried out in light of the string of recommendations for improvement Chris Henley KC set out in his review – including checking thousands of convictions in the CCRC’s caseload – the detail of Mr Malkinson’s case did not appear to be directly discussed at the meeting.

Matt Foot, co-director of legal charity Appeal – which supports Mr Malkinson, told the PA news agency: “We were disappointed that at their annual open board meeting, the CCRC failed to mention that the Justice Secretary has demanded the resignation of the chairwoman, Helen Pitcher, off the back of their appalling failings in that case.

“How can an organisation begin to address these very serious concerns if it is instead focused on ‘business as usual’, KPIs (key performance indicators) and corporate plans?”

The CCRC said its board meets six times a year and Mr Malkinson’s case had been discussed at previous meetings, but also confirmed board meetings were only open to the public once a year. It declined to say why the chairwoman’s position being called into question was not mentioned during the latest public meeting.

A spokeswoman for the body said: “The meeting yesterday covered a variety of topics. A report by Chris Henley KC into this case, and its recommendations, was referenced several times in yesterday’s discussions.”

Ms Pitcher offered Mr Malkinson an “unreserved apology” in April, almost a year after his 2003 conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in light of new DNA evidence. It later emerged her statement came only after Mr Henley’s review said she should apologise.

The CCRC, which previously vowed to “learn from the mistakes that were made”, describes her as an “experienced” chairwoman who also heads up the Judicial Appointments Commission as well as holding a number of “high profile” roles.

The statutory public body, which operates independently from Government, has not confirmed if any CCRC staff faced disciplinary proceedings in light of the failings.

Ms Pitcher is not directly appointed by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) which means the Justice Secretary does not have the power to end Ms Pitcher’s contract.

Instead an independent process has to take place, with a panel hearing representations from both Ms Mahmood and the CCRC to determine whether she should step down from the role or remain in post.

Appointments to the CCRC are made by the monarch on recommendation of the prime minister. As a so-called Crown appointee, Ms Pitcher was originally hired as CCRC chairwoman in 2018 for three years by the late Queen when Theresa May was prime minister. She was then reappointed in 2021, under Boris Johnson’s administration, for a five-year term which is due to end in 2026.

A MoJ spokeswoman said: “There is an ongoing formal process to consider Helen Pitcher’s position as chairwoman and it is right this takes place without rolling commentary.”

A separate inquiry ordered by the previous government into Mr Malkinson’s case is ongoing.