Shabbir, Ghazala

In May 2011 at Harrow Crown Court, Ghazala Shabbir pleaded not guilty but was convicted, along with a co-defendant, of conspiracy to commit fraud. She was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

Ms Shabbir appealed against her conviction in June 2012 but her appeal was refused. In July of that year she applied to the CCRC for a review of her case.

During review, the CCRC obtained new evidence concerning the credibility of a key witness at trial, namely in relation to a fraudulent application to the UK Borders Agency.

The CCRC concluded that there was a real possibility the Court of Appeal would find that, if the jury had known of this evidence, it might reasonably have reached a different verdict, and that the Court would therefore regard Ms Shabbir’s conviction as unsafe.

The CCRC referred the conviction in November 2014.

The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in July 2016.