Legal blunders that cost jailed engineer 14 years of his life

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Overjoyed: Andrew Adams with his girlfriend Clare Brayson

Jack Royal: The man who was shot

An engineer who served 14 years in jail for murdering a retired teacher had his conviction quashed yesterday because of blunders by his legal team.

Andrew Adams, 36, was freed amid scenes of jubilation from friends and could be in line for £500,000 in compensation.

His case made legal history when jurors from his original 1993 trial gave evidence in support of his claims that the jury had been biased against him.

Mr Adams, whose mother Joan died while he was in jail, was found guilty of blasting Jack Royal, 58, in the head with a sawn-off shotgun on his doorstep in 1990.

The crown court had been told that Adams had carried out the killing in Gateshead as a birthday present for his girlfriend at the time.

It was claimed she wanted revenge after Mr Royal was acquitted of stabbing her brother to death in a street fight three years earlier.

But after Adams was jailed for life, jurors came forward, saying that they believed they had been unfairly prejudiced by comments made by other jurors outside the jury room.

The Court of Appeal heard testimony from four jurors, the first time that jury members have been asked to give evidence about their role in a trial.

One said that she had been told by another member of the jury before the start of Adams's trial: 'I know this case and these lads are guilty.'

Two other men tried for Mr Royal's murder were acquitted. The woman juror, who cannot be named for legal reasons, made contact with his family a month after the trial.

She went on to visit Adams in prison and be friends with his mother. The appeal hearing also heard from three other jurors who suggested that a member of the panel had claimed to have 'personal knowledge' of Adams who was allegedly a 'bad lad'.

No report of prejudicial comments was made to the judge or jury foreman at Newcastle Crown Court at the time.

However, the Court of Appeal ultimately rejected claims that the verdict was biased.

Lord Justice Gage said: 'We are quite satisfied no evidence of bias has been shown so as to render the verdict unsafe.'

Instead, the judges rules that Mr Adams's conviction was unsafe due to mistakes made by his legal team. His original lawyers pulled out two weeks before the trial started.

Their replacements failed to use evidence available at the time which may have cleared him because of the lack of time to prepare.

Mr Adams and his girlfriend Clare Brayson, 35, who has stood by him, celebrated his release with a kiss as friends screamed in excitement or were overcome with emotion.

Outside court, he said: 'I have been waiting for today for 15 years. This is the result I ought to have had at my trial.

'It is hard to describe how I feel right now. To say I was over the moon would be an understatement. I feel bitter that my original trial lawyers let me down so badly.

'My one great sadness about today is that my mum cannot be here to share this moment.

'During the past 14 years my mum has died, my friends have got married, settled down and had children, whilst I have been in prison.

'I will now return to Newcastle and begin to rebuild the life I once had.'

Crown prosecutors confirmed that there would not be a re-trial although doubts remain about the police investigation of the murder.

Mr Adams, a former aircraft engineer, first appealed against his conviction in 1997 after several jurors came forward with claims of bias but this was rejected.

The case was later referred back to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which examines possible miscarriages of justice.

Yesterday Mr Adams's solicitor Ben Rose said: 'It is a great day because, after being in prison for 14 years for a crime he did not commit, his conviction has finally been quashed.

'But it is a shameful day because the material which has led the Court of Appeal to quash the conviction was there for his original lawyers to examine - something they failed to do.'

 

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