Kempster, Mark

On 31 March 2001 at Southampton Crown Court, Mark Kempster was convicted of three counts of burglary and one of attempted burglary.

He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for each burglary, to run concurrently, and five years imprisonment for the attempted burglary, again to run concurrently.

The prosecution alleged that he had been responsible for one burglary on the night of 3-4th June 2000, and an attempted burglary and two further burglaries during the early hours of the 17th June 2000.

Mr Kempster appealed unsuccessfully against his conviction and sentence in November 2003. He applied to the CCRC in June 2004.

The CCRC decided to refer the case to the Court of Appeal on all four counts, having considered issues including new expert ear-print evidence and new legal argument based on the 2006 decision of the House of Lords in R v Coutts [2006] UKHL 39, concerning the leaving of alternative verdicts to the jury

The CCRC referred the convictions in May 2007.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction on one count of burglary but upheld the remaining convictions in November 2007.