Mattan, Mahmood

Mahmood Mattan was convicted in April 1952 of murder and received a sentence of death. Mr Mattan was executed in September 1952.

The CCRC inherited an application for review of the conviction from the Home Office in March 1997.

The CCRC’s investigation found that an early statement to police by a key prosecution witness had differed significantly to their trial evidence but this had not been disclosed to the court or to the defence.

This witness had also received a monetary reward for their evidence but this too was not disclosed.

In addition, the court was not informed that four other witnesses who had seen a man close to the scene of the murder at the critical time had failed to identify Mr Mattan in an identification parade.

The CCRC referred the conviction in August 1997.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in February 1998.