Court of Appeal quash murder conviction of Justin Plummer after 28 years in prison

After 28 years, and 3 appeals, Katy Thorne KC and Peta-Louise Bagott secure the quashing of wrongful murder conviction.  They were instructed by Annalisa Moscardini of TBI Scanlans Solicitors.

Katy Thorne KC has represented Justin Plummer since 2014, Annalisa Moscardini since 2016  and Peta-Louise Bagott since 2021.  They finally succeeded in persuading the Court of Appeal to quash his conviction for murder today.  He will be released today and will be a free man for the first time since March 1997. 

Katy Thorne KC and Peta-Louise Bagott and Annalisa Moscardini have worked tirelessly and with determination to overturn Justin Plummer’s wrongful conviction through a CCRC application, two appeals and two trials.  In the latest appeal, alleged “cell confession” evidence from a dead fellow prisoner was deemed unreliable by the Vice President of the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Edis, with Mrs Justice McGowan and HHJ Lickley KC. 

Katy said “This has been a 28-year fight for justice.  Permitting a dead cell confession witness in a trial on an allegation of this age was simply unfair and should never have been permitted.  Prisoners have all sorts of motives to give false cell confession evidence and law reform is needed to stop such evidence being part of criminal trials. 

Now Justin, a man who has suffered this miscarriage of justice for nearly 30 years, and who was incarcerated before iphones, or electric vehicles or even household laptops were in existence, is now being released with little support from the State. The system has to be reformed to give proper support to such victims of miscarriage of justice.

Annalisa has been there for Justin for so long and has worked so hard and for many of the last ten years, unpaid.   She and Peta-Louise, whose extraordinary work was beyond compare,  have made all the difference in this case, without their incredible work Justin’s conviction would never have been quashed”

The Judgment is available here.

Media coverage includes: The Guardian.