Brown, Donald

Donald Brown was convicted in February 1983 of robbery and received a sentence of 12 years’ imprisonment.

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

The principal evidence against Mr Brown came from a police informant who was tried alongside Mr Brown and who had already admitted taking part in four connected counts of robbery.

However, the evidence of the informant was treated as discredited by the Court of Appeal when it later quashed the conviction of Derek Treadaway in November 1996 as a result of the informant’s handling by corrupt police officers.

Other evidence against Mr Brown had been provided by officers of the West Midlands Police Serious Crime Squad who had been significantly discredited and criticised for misconduct and whose evidence was rejected in a number of Court of Appeal judgements.

The CCRC concluded that the remaining evidence against Mr Brown would in itself be insufficient to support his conviction, and it referred the conviction in October 1998.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in January 2001.