Innocent or evil?
A new documentary goes behind the scenes at the Court of Appeal…
On the evening of 30 September 2013, Sean McHugh was at the Liver Launderette in Anfield, Liverpool, when he was attacked by a gang of youths and stabbed to death.
Convicted
Five teenagers were convicted of murdering the 19-year-old and sent to prison, yet the youngest of the group, Joseph McGill, who was 13 at the time of the attack, has always maintained his innocence.
After years of legal wrangling, his case has now reached the Court of Appeal and he’ll soon find out if the nine-year prison sentence he received in 2014 will be overturned.
‘I think about Joseph walking free every day,’ says his mum, Carmel. ‘He’d left the Launderette by the time Sean was stabbed. How can you be convicted of murder when you weren’t there?’
Joseph may not have struck the lethal blow, but CCTV shows him helping to chase Sean into the Launderette’s back room to stop him escaping.
‘Those boys are all evil,’ says Sean’s mum, Lorraine McHugh. ‘They should stay where they are.’ Joseph’s case is just one of the stories featured in this behindthe-scenes documentary on the Court of Appeal, which is the last option for anyone contesting a conviction in the UK.
This is Carmel’s final chance to get her son out of prison, but Lorraine is terrified at the prospect of him being released…
‘The thought of coming face-to-face with one of Sean’s killers is horrible,’ she says. ‘I’ll never have peace, but I hope justice is served and those boys pay for what they did.’