Alexander Allan

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Alex Allen was convicted of robbery of a post office. Eyewitnesses gave different descriptions and the victim could only describe the person who attacked him and this did not match Allen. His conviction was based on the fact that he was found with two men involved in the robbery and the proceeds of the robbery at one of the robbers houses, an alleged admission at the time of arrest, and a conversation between Allen and one of the robbers, which was overheard by a custody officer the day after the robbery. Allen claimed he was with the robbers by chance since he was visiting one of them. His conviction was quashed on appeal primarily as a result of him not having been cautioned prior to his alleged admission. The court found that had the jury must have placed considerable weight on the alleged admission given the absense of identification evidence implicating the defendant, and that had the admission been excluded the judge would have had to give a much stronger warning about the evidence. On this basis, the conviction was quashed.

View Press (innocent.org.uk)

View Press (www.independent.co.uk)

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