Rowe, Michael

Michael Rowe was convicted in June 1996 of armed robbery and possession of a firearm with intent. Mr Rowe received a sentence of eight years’ imprisonment.

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

Mr Rowe was convicted of robbing the store premises where had had previously worked, on strong voice recognition evidence from former colleagues.

The culprit had made their way out of the store through a fire door which was regularly used by smokers working at the premises.

There were 13 fingerprints of uncertain age on this door of which the police had managed to match ten with past or present staff members, leaving three unaccounted for.

Following review, the CCRC determined that this information, which was not disclosed to the defence, could have promoted the argument that one of the unaccounted for fingerprints might have been that of the true culprit.

The CCRC referred the conviction in October 1999.

The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in December 2000.