Andrew Malkinson has called the former head of the miscarriage of justice watchdog “shameless” as she resigned from the job saying she had been “scapegoated for entirely legitimate decisions” taken over his case.
Helen Pitcher handed in her resignation as chair of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) on Tuesday afternoon after learning that an independent panel had concluded by a majority of two to one that she was no longer fit to be chair.
In a letter to the justice secretary she said she felt that she had been chosen as a “scapegoat at an early stage” for the Malkinson case and that “a head had to roll and I was chosen for that role”.
Malkinson said: “Helen Pitcher’s attempt to portray herself as the victim here is shameless. I know what it truly is like to be a scapegoat. I agree however that others need to be held accountable. The CCRC’s senior leadership, starting with the CEO, must also resign to pave the way for root and branch reform.”
An independent review last year found that the watchdog missed multiple opportunities to help Malkinson, who spent 17 years in jail for a 2003 stranger rape he did not commit.
Chris Henley KC found that Malkinson could have been exonerated almost a decade earlier if the CCRC had properly understood the forensic evidence.
Henley’s review also contained personal criticism of Pitcher for failing to apologise and for “taking too little responsibility”. Pitcher issued an “unreserved apology” in April last year after reading his report.
The justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said in July that Henley’s report showed Pitcher was “unfit to fulfil her duties” and that she was seeking her removal. Because the CCRC is an arm’s-length body, this meant an independent panel had to be convened to consider Pitcher’s future.
In her resignation letter, Pitcher said she had been scapegoated for decisions taken before she joined and that “on my watch … we were able to resolve the situation, and set Mr Malkinson free.”
Responding, Malkinson said he was “astonished” that she summarised it this way, adding: “That work was done by my team at [the legal charity] Appeal, not the CCRC, who were considering rejecting my case for a third time.”
He added: “Going forward, it is crucial that the CCRC is led by people with the guts to challenge miscarriages of justice, even if that means taking on forces like the police and judiciary.”
The Guardian revealed that Pitcher had been in Montenegro promoting her property business in the weeks after Malkinson’s conviction was overturned and the organisation was in crisis after its failure to apologise to him.
Pitcher said in her resignation letter that the panel’s “main criticism centres on whether I ‘sufficiently challenged the performance’ of the CEO and some of the staff she was responsible for.”
She robustly defended her record, saying: “Although they made findings against me, in reality there was no evidence before them to justify a conclusion that any other chair would have acted in any other way”.
A Ministry of Justice source said the grounds for removing her in the panel’s report were far broader than the way Pitcher had characterised them and included a series of failures of judgment and decisions that brought the CCRC into disrepute.
Malkinson said last year that he thought the organisation’s chief executive, Karen Kneller, should resign after the Guardian revealed her history at the organisation.
Kneller was director of casework when a review by Chris Henley QC found the miscarriages of justice body did “very poor” work on Malkinson’s first application to overturn his conviction.
Kneller was promoted to chief executive in 2012, shortly after Malkinson’s application was rejected for the first time. In 2023, she was awarded a bonus and pay rise while Malkinson was struggling with unemployment after spending 17 years in prison.
The CCRC did not respond to questions over whether Pitcher’s comments about the panel’s view of Kneller were accurate.
An MoJ spokesperson said: “The lord chancellor established an independent panel to consider Helen Pitcher’s role as chair of the CCRC. We welcome her resignation.
“Given the importance of the CCRC’s work, we will appoint an interim chair as quickly as possible who will be tasked with conducting a full and thorough review of how the organisation operates.”
Matt Foot, co-director of Appeal, said: “This is clearly the right decision and a real victory for those of us campaigning for an effective miscarriage of justice watchdog. Helen Pitcher proved herself an unfit leader when she shamelessly sought praise for her organisation’s catastrophic mishandling of Andrew Malkinson’s case and then spent months denying him an apology.
“The priority now must be to get in a new chair and a fresh senior leadership team with experience of fighting injustice, who can restore public confidence in the CCRC. Miscarriage of justice survivors, campaigners and lawyers should all be consulted to make sure that the right people are selected.”
A CCRC spokesperson said: “We welcome the clarity given by Mrs Pitcher’s decision and look forward to working with the interim chair to continue the important task of finding, investigating and referring to the appeal courts possible miscarriages of justice.”
