Mair, Sydney

Sydney Mair was convicted in June 1988 of murder and received a sentence of life imprisonment.

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

Mr Mair had been involved in a fight in a public house during which one victim was fatally stabbed by Mr Mair’s co-defendant, John Bryce.

He had denied that he had knowledge that Mr Bryce had been armed with a knife and did not give evidence at trial.

Mr Mair was convicted of murder under the doctrine of “joint enterprise.”

Mr Mair’s trial had taken place before the decision of the House of Lords in the cases of R v Powell and R v English which changed the legal approach to joint enterprise cases.

Consequently, the jury had not been directed as to how they should approach the question of Mr Mair’s foresight (or lack thereof) of his confederate using a knife.

The CCRC referred the conviction in December 2001.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in December 2002.