Kamara, John

John Kamara was convicted in December 1981 of murder and robbery. Mr Kamara received a sentence of life imprisonment.

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

Following investigation, the CCRC determined that there had been significant non-disclosure of material to the defence, some of which may have assisted the defence’s case at trial.

The CCRC also concluded that the court might possess an “abiding sense of unease” that Mr Kamara was disadvantaged part-way through his trial when his co-defendant changed their plea to guilty but Mr Kamara’s trial then continued with the same jury.

This had meant that there was no opportunity for defence counsel to cross-examine this co-defendant.

In addition, the CCRC had concerns around the fairness of the identification evidence presented at Mr Kamara’s trial and that the judge’s summing up had failed to sufficiently highlight to the jury the potential unfairness of the identification parade evidence.

The CCRC referred the conviction in April 1999.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in March 2000.