http://tinyurl.com/28mllo
Man wrongly jailed for three years charged £7,000 by Home Office for
'board and lodging'
By SAM GREENHILL - Last updated at 22:00pm on 27th May 2007
Wrongly jailed after a woman cried rape, Warren Blackwell applied for
compensation for his three wasted years in prison.
Torn from his family and sent to languish in jail as a convicted sex
attacker, the innocent father-of-two imagined he was due a hefty sum for
the miscarriage of justice.
Instead, he was flabbergasted to learn the Home Office now intends to
charge him nearly £7,000 for "board and lodging".
The money is for the cost of food and accommodation while he was behind
bars, and will be deducted from whatever compensation he receives for
wrongly imprisonment.
Mr Blackwell, 37, said: "I can't believe it, they've got to be joking.
They are going to charge me for my porridge!
"I've had a letter stating that they have accepted my claim for
compensation, and that the actual amount is to be decided by an
assessor. But they are going to deduct £6,800 for living expenses
incurred during my three years and four months behind bars.
Mr Blackwell's ordeal began when his accuser, now 39, claimed she had
been seized with a knife outside a village club early on New Year's Day
1999, taken to an alley and indecently assaulted.
She picked him out of an identity parade and a jury found him guilty,
even though there was no forensic evidence and he had no previous
convictions. His wife Tanya never doubted his innocence.
Eventually, the case was investigated by the Criminal Cases Review
Commission which found his accuser had fabricated at least seven other
allegations of sexual and physical assault. She frequently changed her
name and police forces did not realise they were dealing with the same
woman.
(snip)
.
|
