Home Office compensation for miscarriage of justice

The Home Office recently paid record compensation for a wrongful fraud conviction. Gavin McFarlane of Titmuss Sainer Dechert and London Guildhall University reviews the process by which miscarriages of justice are corrected.

The news which broke in December that the Home Office had paid out a record sum of over UK£2 million has provoked a good deal of interest in the miscarriage of justice compensation scheme. The subject is of particular relevance to everyone working and practising in the field of fraud because the payment was actually made as a result of a fraud prosecution that had been mounted by Customs and Excise. The defendants, Reginald Dunk and Alexander Schlesinger, had been prosecuted and convicted on charges involving alleged fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on export of arms to Iraq which constituted part of trade sanctions enforcement against Saddam Hussein’s regime. So what exactly is the Home Office scheme under which the payment of such a large amount of compensation can be authorised and how does it work?