William Pierce
Year of crime:
1972
Year conviction was overturned:
2021
William Pierce was one of the Shrewsbury 24, a group who were convicted of a range of offences allegedly committed while picketing. In 1972, the group were part of a nationwide strike by building workers. Five months after the pickets they were arrested and charged with a range of offences relating to the pickets including unlawful assembly, affray, criminal damage, and assault.
On appeal, their convictions were overturned based on evidence showing that original witness statements from the case had been destroyed, which had undermined the fairness of their trial.
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< Back to Case Search < Back to Overview Graph- Offence: Other
- Jurisdiction: England & Wales
- County: Shropshire
- Ethnicity: White
- Gender: M
- Offence convicted of: Unlawful assembly; affray
- Year of crime: 1972
- Year of initial conviction: 1974
- Year conviction was overturned: 2021
- CCRC Referral: Y
- Tried with others: Y
- Link to full case: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Warren-et-al-Shrewsbury-24-judgment.pdf
- Type of fresh evidence at appeal: Other
- Previous appeals: N