Simon Hall Appeal Date Set

PRESS RELEASE – SIMON HALL APPEAL DATE SET.

 The Royal Courts of Justice have today announced that the appeal hearing in the case of Simon Hall will begin on December 7^th 2010, and is scheduled to run over three days.

The case was referred by the Criminal Cases Review Commission in October 2009, and concerns have been raised over the length of delay in setting a date for the actual appeal.

Simon’s wife, Stephanie, said, “A directions hearing in July was cancelled, as both sides were said to be ready. Of course we are delighted to finally have a date, but we simply cannot understand why it has then taken another 5 months to get the case into the court of appeal, especially as when the CCRC did refer Simon’s case, they hadn’t investigated every avenue. In fact, that was one of the main points they made in referring the case when they did, being mindful Simon was still in custody, as he has been now for over 8 long years.

I still feel totally outraged by it all, I mean, the fibres were found to never match in the first place, however many reports are written or delays made, this won’t change the facts.

We are at the mercy of the courts and I feel the prosecution should have made more of an effort to ensure they had time available in their diaries and that Simon’s case was their priority. Bearing in mind that only the most urgent of cases are heard during the summer recess, I cannot think of anything more urgent than an innocent man wasting his life away in a prison cell for something he knew nothing about.”

Researcher Sandra Lean, author of “No Smoke, the Shocking Truth about British Justice” commented, “When doubts of this magnitude have been raised over the safety of a conviction, especially when that conviction involves an innocent man, then the courts must be seen to give those doubts their closest attention. Public trust in the entire justice system is undermined if it appears to people that the authorities are dragging their heels, rather than willingly addressing the suggestion that errors may have been made.”

Keir Starmer, DPP who took office on 1st November 2008, stated in a BBC documentary in 2007 that Simon’s case is really peculiar, because there is no particular reason to suspect he is guilty of this offence, there are lots and lots of question marks. There is one crucial link and that’s the fibre evidence, and that’s what holds the whole case together. It’s a very odd case, it’s circumstantial, break that central piece of evidence and the case falls apart.” 

Simon himself said, on hearing the news this afternoon, “It’s good to finally have a date but I’m bitterly disappointed, Why is it so far away, I’ve already lost 8 plus years of my life which I’ll never get back and I still have 11 more weeks to wait to get back into court. I want to be home with my wife where I belong so that we can start rebuilding our lives.”