‘Wheels are coming off’ miscarriage of justice watchdog, warns legal expert | Criminal Cases Review Commission

The “wheels are coming off” the miscarriage of justice watchdog, legal experts have warned, after it emerged that the commission’s chair has been in Montenegro promoting her property business during one of its biggest modern scandals.

The Guardian revealed on Friday that Helen Pitcher, head of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), was pictured barefoot outside a mussels bar promoting her holiday home business while her organisation was in crisis over its handling of the Andrew Malkinson case.

The photo was posted on LinkedIn on 15 August by a company she directs, which rents luxury waterfront properties in Perast, Montenegro. The caption read: “Having an amazing time at Milos Mussels bar.” On the day it was posted, serious concerns had been raised about the CCRC’s handling of Malkinson’s case, which Pitcher had not commented on, and Malkinson was calling for an apology.

Malkinson was exonerated last month, two decades after his arrest for a rape he did not commit. The CCRC twice refused to refer his case to the court of appeal, despite another man’s DNA being found on the victim’s clothing in 2007.

Barry Shearman MP, chair of a parliamentary group on miscarriages of justice, said Pitcher’s focus on other projects, including co-directing Perast Paradise Properties, was a symptom of cuts to justice budgets that meant her job was reduced to “up to 10 days” a month.

“The justice system is in tatters. It is the most diminished of all departments financially since 2010, with more cuts than anyone else. They do everything on a shoestring,” he said.

“This woman was never appointed on a full-time basis. This is one of a portfolio of jobs because they don’t offer a proper salary or position to do it. With small resources and a part-time job, what do you expect? … This is the phenomenon you get when the justice system is rotten to the core.”

A spokesperson for the CCRC said Pitcher was on a lunch break while working remotely from Montenegro that day and that she did not manage her own social media. They would not comment on whether she was still in Montenegro and said she worked up to 40% more than the 10 days per month she was contracted for in the last year.

Pitcher was in charge of the organisation when it turned down Malkinson’s second application to have his 2004 rape conviction overturned. He applied in 2018 on the basis of new concerns over witnesses. In 2020, the CCRC refused to refer the request to the court of appeal without ordering fresh DNA testing or checking the full police file.

Malkinson said: “Before prison, I loved to travel. But for the last 20 years I’ve been denied that freedom because of my wrongful conviction and imprisonment. I was even denied permission to travel while my appeal this year was pending. Who knows how many years to travel I have left?

“The CCRC’s failure to investigate properly cost me an extra decade behind bars. So I can’t help but be reminded of all I have lost when I see a photograph of the head of the organisation which should have freed me enjoying her freedom barefoot by a boat in Montenegro – while refusing to answer tough questions on the CCRC’s failings publicly, as a leader should, or even offer me an apology. She should resign.”

Pitcher, who has eight other jobs in addition to chairing the CCRC and was awarded an OBE for services to business in 2015, said: “The CCRC is a remote-working organisation, and I sometimes work from a property I own abroad.”

Glyn Maddocks KC, who specialises in representing victims of suspected miscarriages of justice, said the latest scandal was a sign that “the wheels are coming off” an organisation that has been cut back by the MoJ. “It’s a ridiculous way to organise any organisation, particularly something as important as this,” he said. “You’ve got part-time commissioners, a part-time chair.”

Maddocks said the CCRC had been reduced from its inception, when it had a chair “who was doing virtually nothing else other than chairing the CCRC”.

He added: “It’s a shambles. Either way, you’re going to have to blame a lot of this on the government not foreseeing what was going to happen to an organisation that it has pushed into this corner.

“Every one of them is working from home. They have an office, which I’ve been to, which is only manned for meetings … The wheels are coming off.”

Maddocks said the findings of a Westminster commission into miscarriages of justice in 2021 meant people in government were aware of the serious problems it faced and that it “was likely to cause a crisis”.

Pitcher said: “Our board includes non-executive officials who do not carry out casework but provide rigorous scrutiny and oversight of the organisation. The CCRC has a highly committed team of full-time case review managers based all over the UK. Referral decisions are made by our independent commissioners.”

The MoJ has been contacted for comment.