Brown, John

John Brown was convicted in March 1983 of robbery and received a sentence of two years and nine months’ imprisonment.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in September 2001.

Mr Brown had produced a written confession statement to police officers and had subsequently pleaded guilty.

He later alleged that both the confession and the guilty plea were the result of the terror to which he was subjected to by officers of the West Midlands Police Serious Crime Squad (WMSCS).

Mr Brown stated that these officers had threatened to expose him as an informant to criminal associates if he did not sign a confession statement.

Subsequent to Mr Brown’s conviction, officers from the WMSCS were discredited and criticised for misconduct. As a result, their evidence was rejected in several judgments of the Court of Appeal.

Some of these officers were shown to have used oppression to extract confession statements.

The CCRC referred the conviction on this basis in October 2003.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in December 2005.