Williams, Harold

Harold Williams was convicted in November 1977 of murder and received a sentence of life imprisonment.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in April 1997.

During review, the CCRC obtained a new expert pathological report which found that the pathological evidence presented at trial had been flawed.

The pathologist who gave evidence at trial did not test the victim’s wounds against the alleged murder weapon (a knife).

In addition, no tests were carried out on the knife itself to determine the degree of stress required to cause it to bend or break.

The trial pathologist’s report had also been imprecise concerning the cause of death, and their expert witness statement was made five weeks after the victim’s death and lacked specific reference to the post-mortem report.

The CCRC referred the conviction on this basis in August 2000.

The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in March 2003.