Kathleen Bailey

Year of crime:
1974
Year conviction was overturned:
2002

Kathleen Bailey was convicted alongside co-defendants of conspiracy to cause GBH to Michael Cornwall (a London gangland figure). According to police, co-defendants had made incriminating remarks. A prisoner also provided evidence that Bailey’s co-defendants had confessed to him. On appeal, it was shown that interview notes were not checked for accuracy with the defendants and that one of the key interviews could not have been recorded in the time and manner claimed. The Court found that this information would have caused jurors to look more closely at evidence from other interviews too, and so all convictions were found to be unsafe. The prison informant also retracted his evidence, but this was not key since the confession would not have been sufficient evidence without police interview evidence in any case.

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  • Offence: Manslaughter / non-fatal offence against the person
  • Jurisdiction: England & Wales
  • County: Essex 
  • Ethnicity: White
  • Gender: F
  • Offence convicted of: Conspiracy to cause GBH
  • Year of crime: 1974
  • Year of initial conviction: 1977
  • Year conviction was overturned: 2002
  • Age when imprisoned: Unknown
  • CCRC Referral: Y
  • Tried with others: Y
  • Link to full case: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2002/1942.html
  • Type of fresh evidence at appeal: Evidence casting doubt on the integrity of police, Evidence relating to the reliability of witness testimony, Evidence undermining the reliability of a confession
  • Compensation: Unknown
  • Crown argued case at CofA: Yes
  • Retrial: Unknown
  • Previous appeals: Unsuccessful appeal in 1979; unsuccessful application to the Home Secretary in 1994.