I was one of these people who thought the British justice system was brilliant, that you could only be found guilty if you’ve committed a crime, and if you’re telling the truth and are innocent then they’ll protect you- how wrong I was!
– Brian Buckle
Brian Buckle: sentenced 33 years for crimes he did not commit
Brian Buckle, 52, from Pembrokeshire, says his life was good. Then one day, out of the blue, he was accused of rape and sexual assault of a child, dating back to the mid 1990s. He spent two years on bail and then, in 2017, a jury at Swansea Crown Court found him guilty of all 16 counts, by a majority of 11 to 1. Buckle was given a 33-year sentence, and told he would serve a minimum of 15. But, he was innocent.
Buckle said:
My life’s really bad now. Getting up in the morning is the worst for me. I dream about prison all the time. I just can’t get it out of my head. But as the day goes on, I get better and better, then I have to start another day. It’s still really hard work. I do struggle with life, and I’m not the same anymore.
Buckle was locked up for more than five years before his name was eventually cleared. He says life behind bars was traumatic, especially in the sex offender’s prison in which he spent most of his sentence. Buckle expressed that:
It turned me into a horrible person. I just hated everybody, and I was so angry. 80% of the time I was in my cell, because I couldn’t deal with people, and didn’t want to speak to them. I just sat there thinking Where’s all this come from? For five and a half years I cried more or less every time I spoke to my wife. I couldn’t see an end to it.
Devastated Buckle’s life financially and emotionally
Luckily for Brian Buckle, his family never doubted his innocence, and devoted all their time, energy, and money into clearing his name. Although there were no legal grounds to challenge the conviction immediately after his trial, the determination and resilience of Elaine, Buckle’s wife of 33 years, changed this.
Elaine found Stephen Vullo KC to represent her husband, and with the help of a private investigator and new forensic evidence, Buckle said that:
the truth kept bubbling to the surface.
By the time of his appeal, in September 2022, there was witness evidence that the real abuser – who had set Buckle up to take the blame for what he had done – was a violent, intimidating man. He was also a sexual offender and paedophile.
Buckle’s conviction was eventually overturned, and a retrial ordered, which took place in May 2023. This time, the jury returned unanimous not guilty verdicts, in less than an hour. Buckle was a free man.
But five and a half years in prison, for a crime he did not commit, has devastated Buckle, financially and emotionally. His well-paid job meant he was ineligible for legal aid, so it was left to his family to find the money to fight his conviction. They spent all their savings and inheritance, took out loans, and Buckle’s father-in-law even sold his house to raise money for the cause, which cost them a total of £500,000.
Since leaving prison, Buckle has also been diagnosed with PTSD, as a direct result of his false accusation and imprisonment and has been unable to work since his release.
Government failing victims of a miscarriage of justice
Brian Buckle said how:
The company where I previously worked has been really good to me and said I could go back there, but my mental health is a problem. There’s no way I could go back to work. I’m all over the place, and I’ve had no support really, since I’ve been out, from the government or anything.
Buckle has sought compensation for his wrongful conviction, but his application has been refused by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ).
Until 2014, an individual who was wrongfully convicted, had gone to prison, then had their conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal, and been acquitted on all charges at a retrial, would be paid compensation. But changes to the law now mean victims of a miscarriage of justice must not only be cleared of their charges but also prove their innocence ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ before they can receive a payout. This test is impossible to meet for most people and contradicts the principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’.
Buckle’s barrister Stephen Vullo KC said:
In reality, because there’s no oral hearing, and it’s just done on paper and dealt with by someone at the Ministry of Justice, unless you get DNA evidence saying someone else did the crime, they just work on the assumption that you didn’t prove your innocence, even though the jury found you not guilty, or the Court of Appeal quashed your conviction. Watching Brian’s case, I knew the jury would find him not guilty. We didn’t win the trial by a little bit, but by a long, long way. Brian has, in my opinion, more than met the test, in reality, but on a piece of paper sent to the MOJ it’s a different story.
According to Appeal, a charity dedicated to challenging wrongful convictions and promoting a fairer justice system, the MOJ refused 93% – more than 550 – of the compensation applications from wrongfully convicted people, in the eight years between 2016 and 2024.
Vullo said that:
The change, in 2014, was obviously done to save money, although the highest payout in any one year for the old compensation scheme was about £20 million which, for the government, is loose change at the back of a sofa. What the government did not want to happen was for somebody who was clearly guilty, and had got off on a technicality, to then be able to get compensation, and therefore embarrass the government. But I’ve been doing this for 30 years and never seen anyone get off in the Court of Appeal on a technicality.
A petition to demand justice and compensation for Buckle and others
Brian Buckle and Mr Vullo, are asking us to support their petition, demanding justice and compensation for Buckle, which will not only give him a chance to rebuild his life but, once it reaches 100,000 signatures, will also be debated in the House of Commons.
They are also calling for the new law regarding compensation to be reversed back to how it used to be, to not only try and help Buckle, but also others who may find themselves in a similar situation. Vullo, claims the previous compensation scheme was fair and just, and still a matter of discretion. Compensation was not automatic but, although the MOJ could still refuse it, about 86% of people received payment. This law is still used in most of Europe, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Vullo argued therefore argued that:
Yes, there’s going to potentially be the odd person in that group that may be guilty, that has got an appeal quashed and the jury found them not guilty. But our system is set up to protect the innocent. That protection is now gone. To make sure the government doesn’t embarrass itself by giving money to someone who’s guilty, it’s not giving money to anyone.
But if the government is not going to reverse this law, then it must be for the jury to make the decision as to whether someone has proven themselves to be innocent.
Buckle explained that:
When you’re found not guilty, this doesn’t mean the jury finds you innocent, but only that they can’t be sure you’re guilty. As the law stands now, you can’t prove you are innocent. That’s why the challenge we gave the government when we went up to Westminster was to get my jury back and ask them if they found me just not guilty or came to the conclusion that I was innocent. I know my jury found me innocent, because all the evidence proves it wasn’t me, including the complainant saying it wasn’t even me. Otherwise, there’s no way of proving beyond reasonable doubt.
Echoing this, Vullo said that:
Juries need to make this decision, because if there is this impossibly high test, that you have to prove you are innocent beyond reasonable doubt, it is inarguable that the best body to decide whether you are actually innocent has to be the jury. They’ve heard everything to do with the case and seen the demeanour of the people who gave evidence. If they’re going to keep this unfair system, to give it any chance of fairness, you have to make the jury decide, not someone from the MOJ dealing with it on paper. The person that made Brian’s decision hadn’t understood the case and made two or three really serious practical errors in their determination. And yet, there’s no appeal. Their decision is final.
‘Justice must go beyond acquittal’
The Law Commission recently published its consultation on the way criminal appeals are handled in England and Wales, including proposals to make it easier to overturn wrongful convictions. According to its initial findings, the new law regarding compensation is unfair, so the Law Commission has proposed lowering the standard, so although claimants would still need to prove their innocence, the evidence level would be much lower and wouldn’t require it to be ‘beyond reasonable doubt’.
This would be an improvement: an acknowledgement that the situation is unfair. However, according to Vullo, who will be having further discussions with the Law Commission in the coming weeks, it does not yet go far enough.
Last month, Brian Buckle’s local MP, Ben Lake, also gave his support to the campaign. He led a debate in Parliament on ensuring compensation for victims of miscarriages of justice, and described Buckle’s situation as “a moral and legal failure”.
Lake told the Canary that:
It cannot be fair for our justice system to deny support to those who are forced to endure the trauma of wrongful conviction and imprisonment, and who often suffer irreparable harm to their mental health and reputation.
Most people will understandably – and quite reasonably – assume that victims of miscarriages of justice are compensated, particularly if they have spent time in custody before being pardoned or having their convictions quashed. Unfortunately, this is the exception rather than the rule for victims of miscarriages of justice across England and Wales. That is why the UK Government must act to ensure that those wrongfully convicted are compensated. Justice must go beyond acquittal – the innocent must be compensated so that they can rebuild their lives.
Buckle is now expecting to attend a meeting with the justice minister in the next few weeks.
Brian Buckle should be entitled to compensation for his wrongful conviction and the five years he spent in prison. Help his petition reach 100,000 signatures, so this issue can be debated in parliament, and the law can be changed. Sign here.
Featured image supplied
