deCourcey, Kenneth
Kenneth deCourcey, a businessman and financier, was convicted in December 1963 of 11 offences of fraud, forgery and perjury relating to development schemes in what was then Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and Canada.
Mr deCourcey was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment.
The CCRC inherited an application for review of the conviction from the Home Office in March 1997.
Following investigation, the CCRC concluded that fresh documentary evidence cast significant doubt on the safety of three of the counts on which Mr deCourcey was convicted.
The CCRC also considered that because of the pervasive effect of fresh evidence from a key prosecution witness the court ought at the same time to consider whether the convictions could still be sustained on the other counts.
The CCRC referred the convictions in February 2001.
The Court of Appeal upheld the convictions in July 2005.