John Kamara
John Kamara and Raymond Gilbert were convicted of the murder of John Suffield, who was stabbed during a bungled robbery. Raymond changed his plea to guilty during the trial. Evidence against John consisted of Raymond naming him as his apprentice, eyewitness identification, statements made during police interviews and evidence of admissions to fellow remand inmates. The conviction was quashed on appeal due to deficiencies in the identification procedure and omissions in summing up, non-disclosure of statements taken by the police during original enquiries that suggested other possible suspects, and the circumstances surrounding Raymond’s guilty plea.
BBC’s rough justice produced a documentary on this case, which is available here.
View Press (www.insidejustice.co.uk)
< Back to Case Search < Back to Overview Graph- Offence: Murder Robbery / burglary
- Jurisdiction: England & Wales
- County: Merseyside
- Ethnicity: Black
- Gender: M
- Years in prison: 20
- Offence convicted of: Murder; robbery
- Year of crime: 1981
- Year of initial conviction: 1981
- Year conviction was overturned: 2000
- Age when imprisoned: 24
- CCRC Referral: Y
- Tried with others: Y
- Link to full case: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2000/37.html
- Type of fresh evidence at appeal: Evidence relating to the reliability of witness testimony
- Compensation: Yes
- Link to compensation: https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/john-kamara-it-anger-kept-17103077
- Crown argued case at CofA: Unknown
- Retrial: Unknown
- Previous appeals: Leave to appeal dismissed in 1983