Free David Ferguson

Help to right a grave miscarriage of justice....

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Blog entry 11th January 2019

My first blog for 2019, and unfortunately I have to start off with disappointing news.

My solicitors gave me the 'wonderful' Christmas present that they are withdrawing from my appeal. This is for 2 reasons. Firstly they do not feel that the prosecutions blatant misrepresentation of the DNA match estimation at my trial is sufficient evidence to proceed on. Ironically a new study has just shown that in 22% of successful appeals the prosecutions misrepresentation of forensic evidence was the key cause for the miscarriage of justice.

Secondly, Kent police and their expert witness Dr Barrett have refused to respond to my former solicitor requests for them to hand over the key evidence they withheld at my trial. My former solicitors state that this makes it impossible for them to proceed with my case. So, essentially, my former solicitors haven't got the spine to drag the prosecution and Dr Barrett into court and obtain a court order forcing them to hand over key evidence that the police and Dr Barrett withheld at court and have admitted since my trial that it exists.

In view of this I would strongly recommend thinking twice before instructing Wells Burcombe Solicitors in criminal law matters.

Anyhow, my appeal is now moving in a new direction. In the coming weeks an application will be made directly to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). The CCRC will not be able to ignore the fact that Kent police and CPS not only withheld key DNA evidence that undermined their DNA match estimation, they will have to consider that the police and CPA willfully inflated the DNA match statistic to knowingly mislead my jury.

The CCRC will also have to consider why Kent police and the CPS refuse to hand over significant evidence that benefits my defence, despite admitting it's existence. Better still, the CCRC have the legal empowerment to force the police and CPS to hand over the withheld evidence.

2019 is going to be a busy year. As well as the CCRC application I have an on-going Category A review. More importantly though I have my first parole hearing in December. On January 3rd I was visited by an eminent psychologist who is preparing a report for my Cat-A review and will also be giving evidence at my parole hearing. All indications were positive. In addition, my prison law solicitor is confident of a positive outcome.