Appeal Court quashes conviction of man accused
of trying to derail Coventry murder trial
Conrad Jones had always
denied terrifying a female witness in Clinton Bailey trial
Conrad Steven Jones, 48, formerly of Sewall
Highway, Wyken,
was accused of terrifying a female witness as he did all he could to prevent
her giving evidence.
Jailed at Birmingham Crown Court for doing an act intending
to pervert the course of justice in 2007, he served the custodial portion of a
12-year sentence.
But he has always denied any wrongdoing and,
after taking his case to the Court of Appeal
last month, has now had his name cleared by three top judges.
His legal team, headed by senior QC, Joel
Bennathan, said evidence only revealed recently cast serious doubts on the
credibility of the chief prosecution witness.
The prosecution alleged Jones had tried to help
five men beat a murder charge after the shooting of Clinton Bailey at the Three
Horseshoes pub, in Coventry, in April 2005.
The chief witness became the target of a
“professional and organised” attempt to prevent her giving evidence at the
trial, it was alleged.
She was offered money and threatened with serious
violence.
Mr Bennathan said the crucial evidence, which the
prosecution had all along, showed that it was highly improbable that Mr
Jones was in Nottingham when the witness claimed to have met him there.
Had the jury been shown the evidence, they might
have concluded that the meeting had been invented by the witness, he told the
court.
Giving judgment, Lord Justice Pitchford spoke of
a ‘lamentable failure’ by the prosecution to disclose the evidence in 2007.
He continued: “The only occasion when she claimed
to have been threatened face-to-face by the appellant was at a meeting on 1 or
2 June 2006.
“We do not consider that this was a peripheral
issue in the context of the case against this appellant.
“On the contrary, it was central both to the
witness’ credibility on the issue of intimidation by the appellant and to the
particulars of activity by the appellant on which the prosecution relied
against him.
“If the jury had concluded that no such meeting
had taken place, the impact upon her account of several other alleged events
for which she claimed the appellant was responsible must, we conclude, have
been significant.
“It is possible, if not probable, that the other
evidence would have been sufficient to convict the appellant, but we cannot
conclude that would have been the conclusion of the jury.
“We cannot conclude that the issue we have
identified could be segregated from an assessment of her credibility in
general.
“In our judgment, the verdict is unsafe and the
conviction must be quashed.”
The judge, who heard the appeal with Mr Justice
Turner and Mrs Justice Carr, did not order a retrial.
Mr Jones was not present in court.
Conrad was represented by Joel Bennathan QC of Doughty
Street Chambers and Maslen Merchant of Hadgkiss Hughes and
Beale.
To contact the criminal department at Hadgkiss
Hughes and Beale email enquiries@hhb-mo.co.uk or telephone 0121 449 5050.
No comments:
Post a Comment