Causley, Russell

Russell Causley was convicted in December 1996 of murder and received a sentence of life imprisonment.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in November 1998.

Mr Causley had been convicted of the murder of his wife who had disappeared.

At trial, prosecution averred that she had been murdered by Mr Causley after he had embarked on a new relationship.

The case against Mr Causley had rested heavily on circumstantial inferences and the prosecution placed considerable reliance on the evidence of three fellow inmates of Mr Causley who had been on remand in custody.

All of these witnesses gave evidence at trial that Mr Causley had admitted to the murder.

During review, the CCRC had regard to evidence that in respect of all three witnesses, there was undisclosed background information which, if known at trial, might have affected the weight the jury gave to their evidence.

Most significantly, one witness had previously given confession evidence in very similar terms against another defendant and had been rewarded by a reduction of their own sentence for the offence for which they were then awaiting trial.

The CCRC referred the conviction in June 2000.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in June 2003 and ordered a retrial.