About Sandra Lean 

Sandra Lean is an author and researcher on the subject of miscarriages of justice. Her first book, No Smoke (available on Amazon) highlights several cases of wrongful conviction and examines the many factors that make these convictions possible. Sandra is currently studying for a PhD, which has been sponsored by The Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research - www.sccjr.ac.uk.

Since 2002 Sandra has felt compelled to help innocent victims who have suffered a major injustice. Without payment, she has spent thousands of hours going through evidence and trial transcripts with a fine toothed comb, helping the legal teams out with her time and expertise. She does this because she is passionate about helping these falsely accused and wrongfully convicted people in any way she can, and because she is appalled that the British Judicial system is as flawed as it is, letting so many people down.

When a person suffers a false allegation or a wrongful conviction, it is not just the victim who suffers. Their whole families also become innocent victims, and relationships are pushed to their limits.

It is not uncommon for family members to lose friends as well, because most people believe that for someone to go to court, and furthermore for them to become convicted, they must surely be guilty of the crime, and that their loved ones must certainly be naïve and deluded for protesting their innocence.

What the vast majority of people do not realise is that it is NOT uncommon for an innocent person to become falsely accused or wrongfully convicted. In fact the current system in Britain actually enables a bad situation to snowball incredibly easily, and once someone is falsely imprisoned, it is even harder for them to obtain a successful appeal against their conviction, again because the system makes it much easier not to grant an appeal, than to grant one.

For example, a defence team that was unprepared or incompetent at trial can act equally irresponsibly at an appeal, leaving the poor defendant to finish their sentence with little or no hope of ever clearing their name. When innocent people are convicted, they often have no experience or knowledge of the Criminal Justice System. Even if they feel their legal team is not up to the job, they are at a complete loss as to what to do about it.

Often the only hope of getting a fair trial is to enlist very expensive barristers. This can mean that total costs end up being in excess of £80,000 so this is simply not an option for most people. So they are left at the mercy of the defence teams under Legal Aid, who will spend a fraction of the time studying the evidence that a private barrister will spend.

People like Sandra, who are willing to go through the evidence, transcripts, etc, can help, but often a defence team that has performed poorly at trial will simply close ranks, refusing any outside assistance, and hiding behind excuses of "confidentiality". Yet, for a team with nothing to hide, Sandra is, after all, only offering to significantly cut their workload and bring her knowledge and experience of miscarriages of justice to the case.