As one of the leading lawyers who represented Iraqi civilians against abuses at the hands of British soldiers Martyn Day believes that justice is yet to be achieved. He joins Jon Robins to discuss the quiet settlement of compensation claims by the Ministry of Defence and the issues surrounding his work with fellow lawyer Phil Shiner. Dami Ojuri interviews Clive Baldwin of Human Rights Watch to get his take.

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Frances Crook believes ‘politicians are still stuck in the 1950s’ when it comes to our criminal justice system. For 35 years, she has been at the helm of the Howard League for Penal Reform, trying to innovate and change the UK’s approach. Her time in charge is, this month, coming to an end. So in the latest episode of the Justice Gap Podcast, Frances joins Calum McCrae to look back at her time as CEO of the charity, the current state of the penal system in the UK and her hopes for the future. 

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The Grenfell tower fire in summer 2017 was perhaps one of the most devastating events of modern Britain. 72 lives were lost and countless families torn apart by the fire directly. The first stage of the Grenfell inquiry report said the victims paid “a terrible price for a catastrophic failure of industry and Government”. Beyond the fire itself, Grenfell has caused a miserable ripple effect to those living in buildings that shared similar cladding. Cladding we now know accelerated the fire. The Times reported that more than 3 million people are caught up in what’s becoming known as the cladding scandal, with some leaseholders receiving remediation bills higher than the initial cost of their flats. William Martin is one of those affected. He’s a junior doctor, leaseholder and cofounder of the UK Cladding Action Group. He joined Calum to speak about his situation, the ‘end our cladding scandal’ campaign and the Government’s response. 

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Yesterday the convictions of Courtney Harriot, Paul Green and Cleveland Davidson were overturned by the Court of Appeal. They made up half of a group of wrongfully convicted men known as the Stockwell 6. Davidson described the conviction they received in 1972 as a 'total stitch up'. They were accused by the late and now disgraced police officer Derek Ridgewell of attempting to rob him while travelling on the tube from Stockwell station in London.

Last year we reported on the Oval 4’s case, a remarkably similar case, with the same corrupt officer at the centre of it. We thought it was timely to repost that story in light of the Court of Appeals decision in the Stockwell 6 case. Winston Trew, a member of the Oval 4, was dogged in his search for the truth about Ridgewell. A campaign which has gone some way to help overturn a number of cases since. So settle in as we revisit the story of the Oval 4.

‘Kill the Bill’ is the rallying cry of a new movement resisting the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. Gracie Bradley, interim director of Liberty, discusses this with Lucy Brisbane in the latest episode of the Justice Gap podcast. They examine why resistance to this Bill, and the broader attack on human rights and civil liberties in this moment, is so urgent and vital.

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Daniel Morgan is a name many will know. It's likely you'll have heard about the private investigator who was assassinated in a pub car park in South London. His unsolved murder has prompted a hit podcast series, a book and a three part channel 4 documentary. Daniel’s case is one of grisly complexity, police corruption and press manipulation, this podcast won't delve into those details. Instead, we’ll focus on the inspiring 34-year campaign for justice and answers with Daniel’s brother Alastair Morgan. On Tuesday the 15th of June, the independent panel looking into the circumstances of Daniel’s murder, the subsequent investigations and the relationships between the police, private investigators and the press will publish its report. That’s 8 years after it was announced by the then home secretary Theresa May. In this free flowing conversation Alastair and I discuss the report, how he has maintained the campaign with such tireless determination and much more. 

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A learning disabled woman is, on average, likely to die 27 years before her non-disabled peer. The figure is similar for men. This episode features a conversation with George Julian, an open justice journalist who wants to change what she sees as often preventable premature death. She brings awareness to these cases, by live tweeting coronial inquests. ‘My role is to amplify and broadcast and get what happens out there so there is that public record of what happened’. In this powerful conversation, George argued that the current state of the coronial service was ‘appalling’. She added that ‘the mother blame, the family blame, the blaming the person who has died that goes on’ in what she says is an ‘adversarial process is atrocious’. 

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It's probably unlikely that, by now, you won't have heard of the so-called 'SpyCops Scandal'. Central to the complaints of the core participants in the ongoing inquiry into undercover policing was the 'systemic sexism' within the police. Among many other women, Kate Wilson was deceived into a relationship with an undercover cop. The officer she formed a relationship with was called Mark Kennedy, but he posed as Mark Stone and infiltrated a meeting for the mobilisation against the G8 summit in 2005. She described him as charming and disarming, and he quickly became involved in every aspect of her life. But none of it was real. Mark Stone wasn’t real, Mark Kennedy had a wife and two kids and the reason he became involved in her life was to spy on Kate and the groups she belonged to. This week, Wilson’s 10 year fight for the truth brought her case to the investigatory powers tribunal, which examines allegations that the state has misused its surveillance powers. She spoke to Jon Robins, over a somewhat shaky zoom line, about the process, the inquiry and the still remaining trauma of her ordeal.

Oliver Campbell spent 11 years in prison for a murder he and many others, including one of the real perpetrators, say had nothing to do with him. In 1990,  Baldev Hoondle was murdered while working at his convenience shop in Hackney, East London. Campbell's baseball cap was found near the scene and he later made a confession while being questioned by police. But expert after expert have deemed Oliver’s case an open and shut, black and white miscarriage of justice. He has learning disabilities, which combined with interviews that 'breached police codes' and the fact there are many inconsistencies within it, make the confession doubtful. And the cap, supporters argue, was actually worn by the real killer. So why, 30 years after the crime for which he was convicted took place is he still considered a murderer? Aren’t cases like Oliver Campbell’s the reason we have a miscarriage of justice watchdog? In this episode of  the Justice Gap Podcast, we’ll be looking into the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), and we’ll do so with the help of Oliver story. 

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As a human rights lawyer, Harriet Wistrich knows all too well of the importance of protecting defendants rights in criminal trials. But dwindling prosecutions of rape in the last few years has led her to believe we have ‘virtually decriminalised’ the offence in the UK. In January, the Centre for Women’s Justice (CJW), representing the End Violence Against Women Coalition, brought a judicial review agains the CPS. In this week’s episode, Harriet, who is the founder and director of the charity, tells Calum McCrae why they brought that action and the continued importance of putting so-called ‘weaker’ cases in front of a jury. 

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