Willis, Leopold

Leopold Willis was convicted in November 1995 of murder, robbery, and having a firearm with intent to commit a robbery. Mr Willis received a sentence of life imprisonment.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in November 2000.

Mr Willis’s arrest and prosecution had involved officers from the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad based at Rigg Approach.

Following the trial, in the late 1990s, the Complaints Investigation Bureau of the Metropolitan Police conducted a major inquiry into allegations of corruption at Rigg Approach (Operation Spain).

Two officers admitted serious criminal offences and made allegations that many of their colleagues had engaged in similar behaviour.

As a result, 25 other officers were charged with criminal offences or suspended from duty pending investigation (“A officers”).

A further group of officers, whilst not proactive in the commission of offences, were subject to a “general taint” (“B officers”).

Mr Willis had been charged alongside two other co-defendants. These two individuals were clearly identifiable from CCTV stills, but the case that Mr Willis was the third individual relied heavily on the evidence of a witness.

The witness’s identification had taken place long after the offence and there were strong discrepancies in the witness’s accounts of what they had seen. This witness had been in regular contact with an “A” officer.

In addition, according to Mr Willis’ statements, a “B” officer had told him that he was going to be “picked out'” before the identification parade had taken place.

The CCRC considered that the new information that the witness had been handled by an “A'” officer raised significant doubts over the identification evidence.

The CCRC referred the conviction in July 2004.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in March 2006.