Anderson, Thomas

Mr Anderson was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted at Newcastle Crown Court in February 2005.

The prosecution case was that Mr Anderson acted as ‘spotter’ when Stanley Cresswell was shot through the arm on 19 August 2003 at Hetton-le-Hole, County Durham.

Mr Anderson applied for leave to appeal against his conviction. This was refused on 17 August 2005. The Full Court turned down a renewed application for leave to appeal in February 2006.

Mr Anderson applied to the Commission for a review of his conviction in June 2006.

Following trial, at an appeal of one of Mr Anderson’s co-defendants, material was presented which appeared to undermine the victim’s credibility.

The Court of Appeal asked the police to investigate the circumstances that led to the production of this material.

In light of the subsequent report, the Court of Appeal found that the new material rendered the defendant’s conviction unsafe.

Following review, the CCRC concluded that this new evidence also created a real possibility the Court of Appeal would find that Mr Anderson’s conviction was unsafe, following the same reasoning which led it to quash his co-defendant’s conviction.

The CCRC referred the conviction in December 2007.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in July 2008 and ordered a retrial.