Sir Ludovic Kennedy; Paddy Hill (of the Birmingham six); Mike O’Brien (of the Cardiff Newsagent Three); and Robert Brown, who spent 25 years wrongfully imprisoned, will be alongside renowned international academics speaking at a press conference at the University of Bristol on September 2.

The press conference will highlight the establishment of the UK Innocence Network (INUK) to fight miscarriages of justice and encourage research into wrongful convictions.

The conference is to launch the INUK and also the first one-day Innocence Projects Colloquium, which takes place at Bristol University on Friday, September 3.  The Colloquium will explore the feasibility of establishing Innocence Projects in the UK. 

With international connections to the Innocence Network in the United States and Australia, an Innocence Network UK can assist those convicted of criminal offences who have exhausted appeal processes and their campaigners.  Additionally, the INUK will facilitate academic study of wrongful conviction and miscarriages of justice, providing identifiable, accessible expertise, and evidence-based research to influence criminal justice system reform and government policy.

Others present will include Dr Michael Naughton, Lecturer in Law at Bristol University; Carole McCartney, University of Leeds; Dr Robert Schehr, Innocence Network USA; Lynne Weathered and Kirsten Edwards, Innocence Network Australia; Members of the Law Society; Hazel Kierle, Miscarriages of Justice Organisation; and Dennis Eady, South Wales Liberty.

The press conference will take place on Thursday, September 2 at 2.30 pm at the University of Bristol, Room 5.68, Wills Memorial Building, Queen’s Road, Bristol.

The UK Innocence Projects Colloquium is taking place on Friday, September 3 at the University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen’s Road, Bristol between 9.30 am to 5.30 pm. 

In the USA every state has an innocence project, which is attached to a university, and an Innocence Network is well established in Australia.