APPG on Miscarriages of Justice

 

 

In October 2025, Emma Torr, Co-Director of APPEAL, joined Penney Lewis, Dame Vera Baird KC and Danny Barrs on the panel at the APPG event in Parliament. The event, chaired by Kim Johnson MP, discussed the findings of Dr Lucy Welsh and Amy Clarke’s research in their report on Applicant Experience of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).

The report represents the first ever research undertaken to interview applicants on their experiences of the CCRC. One of the common themes that arose was that applicants found it very hard to access a lawyer in the first place to get help with an appeal and when they did approach the CCRC they found them ‘unfriendly and dismissive’.

Emma Torr raised the issue of the crisis affecting access to justice for individuals seeking to challenge convictions – only 3% of applicants writing to the CCRC have access to a lawyer. These comments were echoed in our submissions to the Justice Select Committee on Access to Justice.

Another barrier identified within the report was the lack of information about the CCRC and the way it functions. Dame Vera Baird recognised that things could be done better. ‘For goodness sake we should be decent and friendly’, she said, ‘if you’re in an organisation that sends out dismissive letters, what does it say about what you should think about the people who those letters are being sent to?’ She said she has ‘fragile hope’ that changing these letters will change the attitudes and culture in the body.

APPEAL is working with Dr Lucy Welsh, supported by the Nuffield Foundation to improve resources for women, in particular, who are considering challenging their wrongful convictions or unfair sentences. Emma Torr told the House of Commons that ‘people in prison who maintain their innocence are some of ‘the most vulnerable in society’. Watch this space for further announcements in 2026 on this exciting new project.