Campbell, Trevor

Trevor Campbell was convicted in March 1985 of murder and received a sentence of life imprisonment.

The CCRC inherited an application for review of the conviction from the Home Office in March1997.

The prosecution case against Mr Campbell consisted of disputed confession statements from Mr Campbell’s fourth police interview.

This evidence was obtained by officers of West Midlands Police Serious Crime Squad (WMSCS), several of whom were later disciplined or prosecuted for misconduct, including for obtaining confessions through oppression.

The CCRC considered that there were features in Mr Campbell’s case which bore the hallmarks of other WMSCS cases which the CCRC had referred back to the appeal courts.

These included wrongful denial of the defendant’s right to legal representation during interview, confessions made to WMSCS officers after denials to non-WMSCS officers, and the alleged use of intimidation to obtain a confession.

The CCRC concluded that this cast significant doubt on the reliability of the confession evidence and that had the trial judge known this at the time of trial, the confessions may have been ruled inadmissible.

The CCRC referred the conviction in January 1999.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in October 1999.