With the clock now ticking faster than the one at 1985 Witham police station... I'd like to ask you both the following...
(1) Without giving too much away, is it possible to get a cautious assessment from you both regarding the state of play?
(2) If Jeremy is not afforded an opportunity to overturn his convictions via appeal, as a result of these final submissions to the CCRC... where to next?
(3) If an appeal is granted, is there any way (this time) that the appeals process can be rigged, manipulated or influenced, by any agency seeking to impede the convictions from being overturned?
David - I will do my best to answer your questions.
1) Significant progress has been made since Simon McKay became Jeremy's solicitor. New expert evidence is being obtained which will be a key part of the submissions to be made to the CCRC by the end of this month. I now believe that Jeremy has good prospects of his case being referred to the Court of Appeal.
2) If the CCRC's final decision is not to refer the case, other options will be considered. One such option would be proceedings for Judicial Review of the CCRC's decisions, partly in relation to the exercise of their Section 17 powers to obtain evidence and also in relation to their final decision itself. It would not be the end of the road for Jeremy but he would have a tough battle. He really needs to win the referral.
3) If the case is referred to the Court of Appeal the prosecution (essentially the DPP rather than Essex Police) will have to decide whether or not to oppose the appeal. If they do not oppose it the result should be a formality. If they oppose it they will have to counter, with their own expert evidence where appropriate, each of the grounds of appeal advanced on behalf of Jeremy. The appeal process cannot be rigged as such but much depends upon the judges allocated to the case.
