Ms J

Ms J was convicted in February 2011 at West Hertfordshire Magistrates Court to being concerned in producing a Class B controlled drug.

Ms J was arrested at a property which housed a sophisticated hydroponics factory for growing cannabis plants. She initially denied involvement in or knowledge of the plants discovered and claimed that she had been living and working at the house dealing with cooking and cleaning.

Ms J admitted that she had entered the UK from Vietnam illegally four years earlier.

Ms J was advised by the duty solicitor at court to plead guilty. She did so and she was convicted. Her case was committed to St Albans Crown Court for sentence and she was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in August 2012.

The CCRC decided to refer Ms J’s conviction for an appeal at the Crown Court.

The referral was made on the basis that there was new evidence to show that Ms J was a credible victim of human trafficking and was compelled to commit a criminal offence as a direct consequence of her trafficked situation.

Despite the fact that there was material available at the time of Ms J’s conviction and sentencing indicating that she had been trafficked to the UK for the purposes of labour exploitation, neither the police, the CPS nor the court instigated any further enquiries.

It appeared that Ms J’s solicitors were also aware of the facts but had not advised her of the possibility that her prosecution could be an abuse of process.

In these circumstances, there was a real possibility that the Crown Court would vacate her guilty plea and find that it was an abuse of process to prosecute her without due regard to the UK’s obligations under Article 26 of the Trafficking Convention.

There was therefore a real possibility that Ms J’s conviction would not be upheld.

The CCRC referred the conviction in April 2013.

The Crown Court quashed the conviction in July 2015.