Broughton, Russell

Russell Broughton was convicted in March 1997 of unlawful wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm. Mr Broughton received a sentence of eight years’ imprisonment.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in January 1999.

The victim had been injured in a knife attack on his doorstep in what appeared to be a case of mistaken identity.

There was relatively little evidence that Mr Broughton was the assailant and he was not pursued as a suspect for over a year after the offence.

During review, the CCRC learned that prior to Mr Broughton being prosecuted, the victim had called the police to say that he believed he had recognised his assailant in a car at a public house.

The police had attended the scene but had failed to apprehend either the car or its driver.

This information was never disclosed to Mr Broughton or his defence team.

The CCRC’s attempts to track down the car and/or its driver were unsucessful.

The CCRC concluded that in any event had this matter been disclosed, Mr Broughton’s defence would have been able to use this information to point to another possible culprit.

The CCRC referred the conviction in October 2003.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in July 2004.