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Karen Kneller has stepped down as the chief executive of the Criminal Cases Review Commission after facing months of criticism. The organization is responsible for investigating potential miscarriages of justice in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Calls for her resignation intensified after the CCRC admitted to “failing” Andrew Malkinson, who spent 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
In May, the justice select committee highlighted the organization’s “inability to learn from its own mistakes” during Kneller’s tenure and demanded her resignation. Following her departure, Kneller did not comment on the situation. Dame Vera Baird, the newly appointed chair of the CCRC, emphasized the importance of restoring confidence in the organization’s work, which has been severely damaged.
Helen Pitcher previously resigned as the CCRC chair in January after an independent panel determined that the organization had failed Mr. Malkinson. He had been wrongly accused of rape in 2003 and spent two decades behind bars before being fully exonerated in July 2023. The CCRC’s delays in referring his case to the Court of Appeal, as well as its failure to seek new evidence, prolonged his wrongful incarceration. The organization is now reviewing numerous cases that were previously rejected for consideration, where DNA evidence could potentially challenge convictions.
Matt Foot from legal charity Appeal, which supported Mr. Malkinson in his successful appeal, believes that Kneller’s resignation was long overdue. He advocates for a completely new senior leadership team with a proven track record of addressing injustices to make the CCRC more effective. In the interim, Amanda Pearce, the casework operations director at the CCRC, has been appointed as the acting chief executive
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