Evaluating lay testimony is important in both civil and criminal justice. For example, whether a witness is reliable can make the difference between conviction and acquittal of a defendant, or a person being granted leave to remain rather than facing deportation. However, It is difficult to determine accurately whether a person providing testimony is being truthful and is likely to be accurate in their assessments.

We are working on a large-scale evaluation of testimony evaluation, that examines the basic science of testimony evaluation and translates scientific research into practical and normatively appropriate legal procedure and best-practice guidelines.

Judgments about Memory
How accurate are our predictions relating to the memory of others?
Find out more
Judgments about Credibility
What influences us in evaluating whether people are telling the truth?
Find out more
Memory and Credibility Evaluation in Practice
Memory, credibility, and miscarriages of justice
Find out more
Evidence Based Instructions
How can we improve juror judgments of witness accuracy and credibility?
Find out more

Judgments About Memory

The legal system relies on jurors being able to accurately assess the memory of others by virtue of having had their own experiences with memory. However, our work suggests that in some ways people perform extremely poorly when making judgments about the memory of others, and that their own experiences with memory can actually be misleading.

Our work in this area has looked at a type of “social metamemory,” specifically the ability of people to predict what others will remember from a given stimulus.

This work showed that people performed no better than chance when predicting what others would remember if they experienced a stimulus. It also showed that peoples own experience of a stimulus can bias their judgments of whether other people would remember it, even when those other people have experienced it differently. If a juror views a large image of a potential perpetrator, for example, they believe that it is more likely a witness to a crime would remember that person than when a juror views a small image of a potential perpetrator, even though the size of the image the juror sees is not relevant to how the witness experienced the event.

Predicting own Memory vs others memory

The graph below is taken from the publication discussed above, and shows people’s accuracy when making predictions about own memory vs. when making predictions about the memory of others. As the graph shows, people were better than chance at making predictions about their own memory but not when making predictions about the memory of others.

Helm & Growns (2023) Legal and Criminological Psychology

Why does it matter?

Predictions about how likely it is that others would remember a stimulus if they experienced it are important since an important question when assessing witness testimony at trial is what you would expect a witness to remember had they experienced an event as alleged:

  • No memory for an offender that jurors would expect a witness to remember might be taken as strong evidence that a person a juror can’t recognise is not the offender.
  • No memory for aspects of a crime scene that jurors would expect a witness to remember if events occurred as they alleged might be taken as strong evidence that a witness is not credible.

Our work suggests that jurors own experience does not clearly facilitate accurate judgments about the memory of others. Everyone’s memory works differently, and one persons experience of memory may not be informative in making judgments about the memory of another person. This reality has important implications for the role of the jury when assessing memory, and suggests more guidance than is currently given may be necessary.

Judgments About Credibility

Our research draws on existing work in cognitive science about the inferences that are important to people when making judgments about the credibility of others. We have drawn together existing research to examine what is likely to influence jurors in making judgments about who to believe in cases involving serious sexual offences (where complainant and defendant testimony is the only primary evidence) and have also conducted original experimental work to examine how these influences are likely to be operating in modern juries.  

Systematic over-estimation of false allegations

Evidence-based research suggests that roughly 5% of allegations of sexual assault are false. Our work shows that it is likely that many jurors are systematically over-estimating the prevalence of false allegations, and that this over-estimation is likely to be influencing credibility judgments in practice – specifically leading people to downgrade their ratings of how credible a complainant is.

Participant estimates of the prevalence of false allegations (N=200). Helm (2023) Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition.

This work has also shown how differences in perceptions of how common false allegations (and underlying offences) are can partly explain why male and female jurors, and jurors with different cultural worldviews, tend to reach different verdicts in these cases. The systematic differences in decision-making, particularly among male and female jurors, suggests consideration should be given to gender balance on juries in these cases.

Importantly, our work has also explored how providing information to jurors might influence their perceptions of the prevalence of false allegations and, relatedly, their verdict decisions.

Biases and Misconceptions

Importantly, our work shows how biases and misconceptions may feed into the jury decision-making process in cases involving serious sexual offences, even where jurors do not explicitly endorse “rape myths.” This reality is important because existing interventions to improve the quality of decisions in this area still largely focus on dispelling rape myths, rather than broader, potentially problematic, influences on decision-making.  

Our work seeks to develop and test interventions with the potential to improve the quality of juror decisions in this area in order to benefit both complainants and defendants.

Memory and Credibility Evaluation in PRactice

Our current miscarriages of justice registry contains details of 466 miscarriages of justice that have occurred in the UK since 1970. Of these, 25.32% involved misleading eyewitness evidence from a non-complainant and 11.59 involved misleading witness testimony from a complainant. Through examining these cases we can better understand miscarriages of justice in this area and how they might be addressed.  

The cases clearly demonstrate difficulties that jurors face when deciding whether an account given by a witness is accurate. In many cases, jurors seem to have been convinced by witnesses who later evidence demonstrates were very likely to be lying or mistaken. There is more detail on these cases in our witness evidence wiki.

Key Paper

The anatomy of factual error miscarriages of justice: A fifty year review (2021) Criminal Law Review.

The cases

Total cases:
174
Years lost:
935.94
Average years lost:
5.38
2
David Cooper
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 10
Year of crime: 1969
Year of initial conviction: 1970
Year conviction overturned: 2003
View case
Michael McMahon
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 10
Year of crime: 1969
Year of initial conviction: 1970
Year conviction overturned: 2003
View case
1970
1971
1
Luke Dougherty
Most serious offence: Other
Years in prison: 1
Year of crime: 1972
Year of initial conviction: 1972
Year conviction overturned: 1973
View case
1972
5
Des Warren
Most serious offence: Other
Years in prison: 2
Year of crime: 1972
Year of initial conviction: 1973
Year conviction overturned: 2021
View case
Kenneth O’Shea
Most serious offence: Other
Year of crime: 1972
Year of initial conviction: 1973
Year conviction overturned: 2021
View case
Eric Tomlinson
Most serious offence: Other
Years in prison: 2
Year of crime: 1972
Year of initial conviction: 1973
Year conviction overturned: 2021
View case
John Jones
Most serious offence: Other
Years in prison: 2
Year of crime: 1972
Year of initial conviction: 1973
Year conviction overturned: 2021
View case
Frank Newell
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 8
Year of crime: 1973
Year of initial conviction: 1973
Year conviction overturned: 2014
View case
1973
11
Ronan Bennett
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 1
Year of crime: 1974
Year of initial conviction: 1974
Year conviction overturned: 1975
View case
Alfred James
Most serious offence: Other
Year of crime: 1972
Year of initial conviction: 1974
Year conviction overturned: 2021
View case
John Seaburg
Most serious offence: Other
Year of crime: 1972
Year of initial conviction: 1974
Year conviction overturned: 2021
View case
Graham Roberts
Most serious offence: Other
Year of crime: 1972
Year of initial conviction: 1974
Year conviction overturned: 2021
View case
Patrick Butcher
Most serious offence: Other
Year of crime: 1972
Year of initial conviction: 1974
Year conviction overturned: 2021
View case
Terry Renshaw
Most serious offence: Other
Year of crime: 1972
Year of initial conviction: 1974
Year conviction overturned: 2021
View case
George Arthur Murray
Most serious offence: Other
Year of crime: 1972
Year of initial conviction: 1974
Year conviction overturned: 2021
View case
John Clee
Most serious offence: Other
Year of crime: 1972
Year of initial conviction: 1974
Year conviction overturned: 2021
View case
William Pierce
Most serious offence: Other
Year of crime: 1972
Year of initial conviction: 1974
Year conviction overturned: 2021
View case
Bernard Williams
Most serious offence: Other
Years in prison: 0
Year of crime: 1972
Year of initial conviction: 1974
Year conviction overturned: 2021
View case
Samuel Warburton
Most serious offence: Other
Years in prison: 0
Year of crime: 1972
Year of initial conviction: 1974
Year conviction overturned: 2021
View case
1974
1
George Davis
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Year of crime: 1974
Year of initial conviction: 1975
Year conviction overturned: 2011
View case
1975
1
Stefan Kiszko
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 16
Year of crime: 1975
Year of initial conviction: 1976
Year conviction overturned: 1992
View case
1976
4
Charles Edwin Clarke
Most serious offence: Manslaughter / non-fatal offence against the person
Years in prison: 4
Year of crime: 1977
Year of initial conviction: 1977
Year conviction overturned: 2002 (died 1995)
View case
Kathleen Bailey
Most serious offence: Manslaughter / non-fatal offence against the person
Year of crime: 1974
Year of initial conviction: 1977
Year conviction overturned: 2002
View case
Reg Dudley
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 20
Year of crime: 1974
Year of initial conviction: 1977
Year conviction overturned: 2002
View case
Bob Maynard
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 23
Year of crime: 1974
Year of initial conviction: 1977
Year conviction overturned: 2002
View case
1977
1978
1979
2
Terry Pinfold
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 21
Year of crime: 1974
Year of initial conviction: 1980
Year conviction overturned: 2003
View case
Harry MacKenney
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 23
Year of crime: 1974-78
Year of initial conviction: 1980
Year conviction overturned: 2003
View case
1980
2
John Kamara
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 20
Year of crime: 1981
Year of initial conviction: 1981
Year conviction overturned: 2000
View case
John McGranaghan
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 10
Year of crime: 1978; 1979; 1980
Year of initial conviction: 1981
Year conviction overturned: 1991
View case
1981
1
John Bingham
Most serious offence: Other
Years in prison: 2.5
Year of crime: 1982
Year of initial conviction: 1982
Year conviction overturned: 1984
View case
1982
7
Derek Treadaway
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 13
Year of crime: 1979
Year of initial conviction: 1983
Year conviction overturned: 1996
View case
Ronald Brown
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 18
Year of crime: 1979
Year of initial conviction: 1983
Year conviction overturned: 2001
View case
Donald Brown
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 12
Year of crime: 1979
Year of initial conviction: 1983
Year conviction overturned: 2001
View case
Michael Dunne
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 15
Year of crime: Unknown
Year of initial conviction: 1983
Year conviction overturned: 2001
View case
Patrick Gaughan
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 10
Year of crime: 1979
Year of initial conviction: 1983
Year conviction overturned: 2001
View case
John Wilson
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 10
Year of crime: Unknown
Year of initial conviction: 1983
Year conviction overturned: 2003
View case
Christopher Hagans
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 20
Year of crime: Unknown
Year of initial conviction: 1983
Year conviction overturned: 2003
View case
1983
2
Thomas Campbell
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 16
Year of crime: 1984
Year of initial conviction: 1984
Year conviction overturned: 2004
View case
Peter Fell
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 17
Year of crime: 1982
Year of initial conviction: 1984
Year conviction overturned: 2001
View case
1984
1
George McPhee
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 18
Year of crime: 1985
Year of initial conviction: 1985
Year conviction overturned: 2005
View case
1985
1
Roy Burnett
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 14
Year of crime: 1985
Year of initial conviction: 1986
Year conviction overturned: 2000
View case
1986
1
Mary Clinton
Most serious offence: Other
Years in prison: 2
Year of crime: 1987
Year of initial conviction: 1987
Year conviction overturned: 2016
View case
1987
5
Altaf Hussain
Most serious offence: Drugs offences
Year of initial conviction: 1988
Year conviction overturned: 2008
View case
Prem Sivalingham
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 6
Year of crime: 1986
Year of initial conviction: 1988
Year conviction overturned: 1994
View case
Sam Kulasingham
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 6
Year of crime: 1986
Year of initial conviction: 1988
Year conviction overturned: 1994
View case
Alexander Hall
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 11
Year of crime: 1984
Year of initial conviction: 1988
Year conviction overturned: 1998
View case
John McLoughlin
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Year of crime: Unknown
Year of initial conviction: 1988
Year conviction overturned: 1998
View case
1988
3
Eddie Browning
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 6
Year of crime: 1988
Year of initial conviction: 1989
Year conviction overturned: 1994
View case
Mary Druhan
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 10
Year of crime: 1988
Year of initial conviction: 1989
Year conviction overturned: 1999
View case
Stuart Gair
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 13
Year of crime: 1989
Year of initial conviction: 1989
Year conviction overturned: 2006
View case
1989
9
Anthony Poole
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 13
Year of crime: 1989
Year of initial conviction: 1990
Year conviction overturned: 2003
View case
Tony Paris
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 2
Year of crime: 1988
Year of initial conviction: 1990
Year conviction overturned: 1992
View case
Yusef Abdullahi
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 2
Year of crime: 1988
Year of initial conviction: 1990
Year conviction overturned: 1992
View case
Stephen Miller
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 2
Year of crime: 1988
Year of initial conviction: 1990
Year conviction overturned: 1992
View case
Gary Mills
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 13
Year of crime: 1989
Year of initial conviction: 1990
Year conviction overturned: 2003
View case
Raphael Rowe
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 10
Year of crime: 1988
Year of initial conviction: 1990
Year conviction overturned: 2000
View case
Michael Davis
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 10
Year of crime: 1988
Year of initial conviction: 1990
Year conviction overturned: 2000
View case
Randolph Johnson
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 10
Year of crime: 1988
Year of initial conviction: 1990
Year conviction overturned: 2000
View case
Reginald F
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 9
Year of crime: Unknown
Year of initial conviction: 1990
Year conviction overturned: 2002
View case
1990
10
Khalid Latif
Most serious offence: Drugs offences
Year of crime: 1989
Year of initial conviction: 1991
Year conviction overturned: 2007
View case
Mohammed Shahzad
Most serious offence: Drugs offences
Year of crime: 1989
Year of initial conviction: 1991
Year conviction overturned: 2007
View case
Trevor Wickens
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 12
Year of crime: 1986
Year of initial conviction: 1991
Year conviction overturned: 2003
View case
Gerard Hodgkins
Most serious offence: Other
Years in prison: Unknown
Year of crime: 1990
Year of initial conviction: 1991
Year conviction overturned: 2008
View case
James Martin
Most serious offence: Other
Years in prison: 17
Year of crime: 1990
Year of initial conviction: 1991
Year conviction overturned: 2008
View case
Liam Martin
Most serious offence: Other
Years in prison: 17
Year of crime: 1990
Year of initial conviction: 1991
Year conviction overturned: 2008
View case
Daniel Morrison
Most serious offence: Other
Years in prison: Unknown
Year of crime: Unknown
Year of initial conviction: 1991
Year conviction overturned: 2008
View case
Daniel Caldwell
Most serious offence: Other
Years in prison: Unknown
Year of crime: 1990
Year of initial conviction: 1991
Year conviction overturned: 2008
View case
James O’Carroll
Most serious offence: Other
Years in prison: Unknown
Year of crime: 1990
Year of initial conviction: 1991
Year conviction overturned: 2008
View case
Ellish Enright
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 7
Year of crime: Unknown
Year of initial conviction: 1991
Year conviction overturned: 2002
View case
1991
3
Lisa Taylor
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 1
Year of crime: 1991
Year of initial conviction: 1992
Year conviction overturned: 1993
View case
Michelle Taylor
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 1
Year of crime: 1991
Year of initial conviction: 1992
Year conviction overturned: 1993
View case
Jan Christofides
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 9
Year of crime: 1992
Year of initial conviction: 1992
Year conviction overturned: 2001
View case
1992
3
Mohammed Osman
Most serious offence: Drugs offences
Year of initial conviction: 1993
Year conviction overturned: 2007
View case
Dean Soloman
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 4
Year of crime: 1991
Year of initial conviction: 1993
Year conviction overturned: 2007
View case
Derek A
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 7
Year of crime: Unknown
Year of initial conviction: 1993
Year conviction overturned: 2000
View case
1993
3
Shah Nawaz
Most serious offence: Drugs offences
Year of initial conviction: 1994
Year conviction overturned: 2007
View case
Mohammed Rafiq
Most serious offence: Drugs offences
Year of initial conviction: 1994
Year conviction overturned: 2008
View case
Martin C
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 9
Year of crime: 1991-1993
Year of initial conviction: 1994
Year conviction overturned: 2003
View case
1994
5
Leopold Willis
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 11
Year of crime: 1995
Year of initial conviction: 1995
Year conviction overturned: 2006
View case
Anthony Taylor
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 5
Year of crime: 1995
Year of initial conviction: 1995
Year conviction overturned: 2000
View case
Kevin Martin
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 5
Year of crime: Unknown
Year of initial conviction: 1995
Year conviction overturned: 2000
View case
Michael Brown
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 5
Year of crime: Unknown
Year of initial conviction: 1995
Year conviction overturned: 2000
View case
Christopher-Patrick Walters
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 5
Year of crime: 1995
Year of initial conviction: 1995
Year conviction overturned: 2002
View case
1995
12
Zoe Martindale
Most serious offence: Drugs offences
Years in prison: 4
Year of crime: Unknown
Year of initial conviction: 1996
Year conviction overturned: 2003
View case
Ghulam Rasool
Most serious offence: Drugs offences
Years in prison: 11
Year of crime: 1995
Year of initial conviction: 1996
Year conviction overturned: 2007
View case
Ghulam Rasool
Most serious offence: Drugs offences
Year of crime: 1995
Year of initial conviction: 1996
Year conviction overturned: 2007
View case
Steven Johnston
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 10
Year of crime: 1995
Year of initial conviction: 1996
Year conviction overturned: 2006
View case
Billy Allison
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 10
Year of crime: 1995
Year of initial conviction: 1996
Year conviction overturned: 2006
View case
Keith Birchall
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 2
Year of crime: 1995
Year of initial conviction: 1996
Year conviction overturned: 1998
View case
Richard Mulchay
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 4
Year of crime: 1995
Year of initial conviction: 1996
Year conviction overturned: 2000
View case
Gary Ford
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 15
Year of crime: 1996
Year of initial conviction: 1996
Year conviction overturned: 2011
View case
Victor Nealon
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 17
Year of crime: 1996
Year of initial conviction: 1996
Year conviction overturned: 2013
View case
Kevin John Brown
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 7
Year of crime: 1995
Year of initial conviction: 1996
Year conviction overturned: 2003
View case
Ernest Bond
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 6
Year of crime: 1987 – 1994
Year of initial conviction: 1996
Year conviction overturned: 2003
View case
Barry John Cook
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 7
Year of crime: 1995
Year of initial conviction: 1996
Year conviction overturned: 2003
View case
1996
6
Craig Lane
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 2.75
Year of crime: 1995
Year of initial conviction: 1997
Year conviction overturned: 1998
View case
Gary Shaffi
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 3
Year of crime: 1995
Year of initial conviction: 1997
Year conviction overturned: 1998
View case
Michael Beadle
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 2
Year of crime: 1995
Year of initial conviction: 1997
Year conviction overturned: 1998
View case
David Noble
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 2.75
Year of crime: 1995
Year of initial conviction: 1997
Year conviction overturned: 1998
View case
Annette Hewins
Most serious offence: Other
Years in prison: 1.5
Year of crime: 1995
Year of initial conviction: 1997
Year conviction overturned: 1999
View case
Joseph Otoo
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 3
Year of crime: 1995
Year of initial conviction: 1997
Year conviction overturned: 2000
View case
1997
5
Daniel Mansell
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 11
Year of crime: 1996
Year of initial conviction: 1998
Year conviction overturned: 2009
View case
Stewart Allen
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 1.5
Year of crime: 1997
Year of initial conviction: 1998
Year conviction overturned: 2007
View case
Anthony Mark Clibery
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 4.5
Year of crime: 1998
Year of initial conviction: 1998
Year conviction overturned: 2005
View case
Roger Beardmore
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 3.75
Year of crime: 1990
Year of initial conviction: 1998
Year conviction overturned: 2001
View case
David Potter
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 6
Year of crime: Unknown
Year of initial conviction: 1998
Year conviction overturned: 2004
View case
1998
4
B W
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 4
Year of crime: Unknown
Year of initial conviction: 1999
Year conviction overturned: 2003
View case
Warren Blackwell
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 5
Year of crime: 1999
Year of initial conviction: 1999
Year conviction overturned: 2006
View case
John Siddall
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 4
Year of crime: 1985-88
Year of initial conviction: 1999
Year conviction overturned: 2006
View case
Stephen Aston
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Year of crime: 1993/1994
Year of initial conviction: 1999
Year conviction overturned: 2010
View case
1999
6
Robert Clarke
Most serious offence: Drugs offences
Years in prison: 10
Year of crime: 1996
Year of initial conviction: 2000
Year conviction overturned: 2010
View case
Jamie Sneddon
Most serious offence: Other
Years in prison: 0.83
Year of crime: 1999
Year of initial conviction: 2000
Year conviction overturned: 2009
View case
M L
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 3
Year of crime: 1974-97
Year of initial conviction: 2000
Year conviction overturned: 2003
View case
Ian Brooke
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 6
Year of crime: 1986
Year of initial conviction: 2000
Year conviction overturned: 2006
View case
David Carrington-Jones
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 6.5
Year of crime: 1999
Year of initial conviction: 2000
Year conviction overturned: 2007
View case
David Luxford
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 2.8
Year of crime: 1988
Year of initial conviction: 2000
Year conviction overturned: 2003
View case
2000
1
Christopher Drury
Most serious offence: Drugs offences
Years in prison: 8
Year of crime: 1996
Year of initial conviction: 2001
Year conviction overturned: 2010
View case
2001
8
Margaret Smith
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 1
Year of crime: 1994
Year of initial conviction: 2002
Year conviction overturned: 2004
View case
Dwaine Simeon George
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 12
Year of crime: 2001
Year of initial conviction: 2002
Year conviction overturned: 2014
View case
Gavin Burt
Most serious offence: Other
Years in prison: 3
Year of crime: 2001
Year of initial conviction: 2002
Year conviction overturned: 2005
View case
Desmond Dinnell
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 2.5
Year of crime: 2002
Year of initial conviction: 2002
Year conviction overturned: 2009
View case
Anver Daud Sheikh
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 3.5
Year of crime: 1979-83
Year of initial conviction: 2002
Year conviction overturned: 2004, 2006
View case
Christopher Scott P
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 2
Year of crime: 2001
Year of initial conviction: 2002
Year conviction overturned: 2004
View case
Ricardo Prince
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 3
Year of crime: 1999
Year of initial conviction: 2002
Year conviction overturned: 2005
View case
P P
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 3
Year of initial conviction: 2002
Year conviction overturned: 2005
View case
2002
2
Leslie Warren
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 2
Year of crime: 2003
Year of initial conviction: 2003
Year conviction overturned: 2005
View case
Jason K
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 2
Year of crime: 2003
Year of initial conviction: 2003
Year conviction overturned: 2006
View case
2003
13
Thomas Rooney
Most serious offence: Manslaughter / non-fatal offence against the person
Years in prison: 3
Year of crime: 2004
Year of initial conviction: 2004
Year conviction overturned: 2007
View case
Nimalrajah Thambithurai
Most serious offence: Manslaughter / non-fatal offence against the person
Years in prison: 2.5
Year of crime: 2001
Year of initial conviction: 2004
Year conviction overturned: 2011 (first successful appeal in 2007 but convicted at retrial)
View case
Jathies Santharatnam
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 8
Year of crime: 2001
Year of initial conviction: 2004
Year conviction overturned: 2011
View case
Prabu Santharatnam
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 8
Year of crime: 2001
Year of initial conviction: 2004
Year conviction overturned: 2011
View case
Mayuran Seevaratnam
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 8
Year of crime: 2003
Year of initial conviction: 2004
Year conviction overturned: 2011 (first successful appeal in 2007 but convicted at retrial)
View case
Nimalal Nadarajah
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 8
Year of crime: 2001
Year of initial conviction: 2004
Year conviction overturned: 2011 (first successful appeal in 2007 but convicted at retrial)
View case
Andrew F
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: Unknown
Year of crime: Unknown
Year of initial conviction: 2004
Year conviction overturned: 2009
View case
Leon Benjamin Forde
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 1.5
Year of crime: 2002
Year of initial conviction: 2004
Year conviction overturned: 2006
View case
George Anderson
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 2
Year of crime: 1979-1981
Year of initial conviction: 2004
Year conviction overturned: 2005
View case
Margaret Hewitt
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 2
Year of crime: 1979-1981
Year of initial conviction: 2004
Year conviction overturned: 2005
View case
David Thackeray
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 1
Year of crime: Unknown
Year of initial conviction: 2004
Year conviction overturned: 2008
View case
Ahmed Mohammed
Most serious offence: Sexual Offences
Year of crime: 2001
Year of initial conviction: 2004
View case
Andy Malkinson
Most serious offence: Sexual Offences
Years in prison: 17
Year of crime: 2003
Year of initial conviction: 2004
Year conviction overturned: 2023
View case
2004
4
David Ballingham
Most serious offence: Manslaughter / non-fatal offence against the person
Year of crime: 2005
Year of initial conviction: 2005
Year conviction overturned: 2008
View case
Sam Hallam
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 7
Year of crime: 2004
Year of initial conviction: 2005
Year conviction overturned: 2012
View case
David Tucker
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 3
Year of crime: 2005
Year of initial conviction: 2005
Year conviction overturned: 2008
View case
Clifford Card
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 1
Year of crime: 2004
Year of initial conviction: 2005
Year conviction overturned: 2006
View case
2005
4
James Dunn
Most serious offence: Murder
Year of crime: 2006
Year of initial conviction: 2006
Year conviction overturned: 2016
View case
Gary Higgins
Most serious offence: Murder
Year of crime: 2006
Year of initial conviction: 2006
Year conviction overturned: 2016
View case
Mark Paterson
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Year of crime: 2002
Year of initial conviction: 2006
Year conviction overturned: 2014
View case
Mark Pepperman
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 1
Year of crime: 2001
Year of initial conviction: 2006
Year conviction overturned: 2007
View case
2006
5
Adekunle Akanbi-Akinlade
Most serious offence: Drugs offences
Years in prison: 5
Year of initial conviction: 2007
Year conviction overturned: 2012
View case
Billy Mills
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 1.16
Year of crime: 2007
Year of initial conviction: 2007
Year conviction overturned: 2009
View case
William Mills
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 2
Year of crime: 2007
Year of initial conviction: 2007
Year conviction overturned: 2009
View case
Bryan Tong
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 0.4
Year of crime: 2007
Year of initial conviction: 2007
Year conviction overturned: 2008
View case
Omar Bryan
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 3
Year of crime: 2005
Year of initial conviction: 2007
Year conviction overturned: 2009
View case
2007
6
Antonio Christie
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 4
Year of crime: 2002
Year of initial conviction: 2008
Year conviction overturned: 2012
View case
Levi Walker
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 4
Year of crime: 2002
Year of initial conviction: 2008
Year conviction overturned: 2012
View case
Adam Joof
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 4
Year of crime: 2002
Year of initial conviction: 2008
Year conviction overturned: 2012
View case
Michael Osbourne
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 4
Year of crime: 2002
Year of initial conviction: 2008
Year conviction overturned: 2012
View case
Owen Crooks
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 4
Year of crime: 2002
Year of initial conviction: 2008
Year conviction overturned: 2012
View case
Alexander Peppernell
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 1
Year of crime: 1980-1990
Year of initial conviction: 2008
Year conviction overturned: 2009
View case
2008
2
Tonderai Chakwana
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 3
Year of crime: 2008
Year of initial conviction: 2009
Year conviction overturned: 2013
View case
Sajid Ali
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 2.5
Year of crime: 2008
Year of initial conviction: 2009
Year conviction overturned: 2014
View case
2009
2
John Jenkins
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: Unknown
Year of crime: 2010
Year of initial conviction: 2010
Year conviction overturned: 2011
View case
Nadeem Aslam
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 3
Year of crime: 2007-2009
Year of initial conviction: 2010
Year conviction overturned: 2014
View case
2010
2011
2
Ched Evans
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 2.5
Year of crime: 2011
Year of initial conviction: 2012
Year conviction overturned: 2016
View case
Trevor Gray
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 4
Year of crime: 2011
Year of initial conviction: 2012
Year conviction overturned: 2013
View case
2012
3
Jonathan Price
Most serious offence: Manslaughter / non-fatal offence against the person
Year of initial conviction: 2013
Year conviction overturned: 2015
View case
Shaun Hegarty
Most serious offence: Robbery / burglary
Years in prison: 3
Year of crime: 2013
Year of initial conviction: 2013
Year conviction overturned: 2016
View case
Danny Steven Kay
Most serious offence: Sexual offences
Years in prison: 4
Year of crime: Unknown
Year of initial conviction: 2013
Year conviction overturned: 2017
View case
2013
2014
1
A M
Most serious offence: Sexual Offences
Year of crime: 2012-2013
Year of initial conviction: 2015
Year conviction overturned: 2020
View case
2015
4
Patryk Pachecka
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 5
Year of crime: 2016
Year of initial conviction: 2016
Year conviction overturned: 2021
View case
Grzegorz Szal
Most serious offence: Murder
Years in prison: 5
Year of crime: 2016
Year of initial conviction: 2016
Year conviction overturned: 2021
View case
Frances Avis
Most serious offence: Other
Year of crime: 2015
Year of initial conviction: 2016
Year conviction overturned: 2016
View case
John Porch
Most serious offence: Other
Year of crime: 2015
Year of initial conviction: 2016
Year conviction overturned: 2020
View case
2016
2017
1
Rajeshkumar Mehta
Most serious offence: Sexual Offences
Years in prison: 1
Year of crime: 2016
Year of initial conviction: 2018
Year conviction overturned: 2019
View case
2018
Year of initial conviction

Evidence Based Instructions

The instructions currently given to jurors   in cases in which eyewitness memory is central evidence rely on providing jurors with information and presuming that the information will (1) effectively lead jurors to change their beliefs, and (2) allow jurors to effectively apply the information in the case they are deciding. However, psychological theory suggests that merely providing jurors with information may not do either of these things effectively.  

Our work has drawn on psychological theory to design and test evidence-based instructions (which we have referred to as “training directions”) with the potential to more effectively lead to belief change in jurors, and to allow jurors to apply information in practice. In an experimental study comparing the instructions we have devised to more standard instructions in a case context, our training instructions (but not the more standard instructions) brought juror beliefs more in line with scientific evidence, and also fed through appropriately into mock legal judgments.  

Helm (2021) International Journal of Evidence & Proof

Key Paper

Evaluating witness testimony: Juror knowledge, false memory, and the utility of evidence-based directions. (2021) The International Journal of Evidence & Proof.

For more information on our work on testimony evaluation, please read our Research Briefing document or get in touch via the contact us page.