Last year it referred just 30 cases compared to 44 the year before

Last year it referred just 30 cases, compared to 44 the year before. “The courts are having to deal with more and more cases that are taking years to be heard. But we know things are also going wrong in the administration of justice, which the courts would rather not reveal, because it would damage public confidence in the justice system.”After a honeymoon period, the CCRC is finding that more and more of the cases it refers to the Court of Appeal are being turned down. The aim of the meeting is to identify where the system has fallen down and to find better ways of working together to end delays.Mr Malone admits that some solicitors are guilty of dragging their heels in appeal cases, but it is clear where he feels most of the blame lies. But after losing a solicitor to a year’s sabbatical he says he is now considering closing down this side of his practice “It’s paid so badly that I am barely clearing his salary. Delays seem to be getting worse, and they seem to be worse still with the listing department at the Court of Appeal.”On Saturday criminal appeal lawyers are meeting with representatives of the Criminal Cases Review Commission and the Criminal Appeal Office at a conference in London to thrash out some of these issues. Steve Bird, a criminal law specialist in London, has around 15 to 20 appeal cases on his books.

But the hours are capped so that days of painstaking research may earn the lawyer around £250, a little more if the case is submitted to the CCRC This means that the work is simply not profitable. “Criminal appeal cases,” says Mr Charalambous, “are paid so badly that there are fewer and fewer lawyers willing to do them. Many of them are complicated cases that require many hours of expertise by an experienced criminal lawyer.”The legal-aid rate for preparatory work in criminal appeal cases is just under £50 an hour. Trying to get a case listed for hearing is almost as difficult as trying to get a referral back to the Court of Appeal by the CCRC.”After he had visited Josephine in prison, she told him she wanted to “send a message” to others waiting for their cases to be heard.

“Josephine Smith perfectly illustrates the crisis in the system. The long-accepted principle of “justice delayed is justice denied” especially applies to prisoners who are the victims of miscarriages of justice.Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice, warned last year in the Court of Appeal’s annual report that “if pressures continue to impact upon the efficient and timely preparation of cases and their earliest consideration by the court, there may be a need to review resources available to both the criminal appeal office and the court” Criminal lawyers put it much more strongly than that. These figures partly reflect a growing appeals culture, but they also tell a story of courts failing to meet the demands of a modern criminal justice system. In the last year outstanding appeals before the court increased overall from 3,218 to 3,783. The average waiting time between being granted leave to appeal and an appeal hearing taking place has increased by almost three months in as many years.

She is not alone.Stephen Downing was finally cleared of the so-called “Bakewell tart” murder in January this year, after spending 28 years protesting his innocence. They have consistently argued that the significance of her abusive relationship and the issue of provocation were not properly explored by the courts. Since Josephine’s case the law has changed, so that it now recognises “battered women’s syndrome” as a defence to murder. But the wheels of justice have turned very slowly and Smith, whose case is due to be heard by the Court of Appeal next month, has had to wait nine years to have a fair chance to clear her name. As far back as 1998 her lawyers submitted her file to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.