Hundreds of killers could now walk free
Law on group attacks ‘misinterpreted for 30 years’
HUNDREDS of murderers were given hope of freedom yesterday after a ruling threw into question convictions dating back 30 years.
Judges at the Supreme Court in London declared that the laws which say people can be guilty of murder even though they did not strike a killer blow have been wrong since the 1980s.
The finding – in the case of Ameen Jogee, a Leicester drug dealer convicted in 2012 of the murder of a Scots-born former police officer – means that judges have been mistakenly directing juries in cases involving ‘joint enterprise’.
This is a controversial legal doctrine that goes back nearly 350 years, allows a jury to bring in a murder verdict on someone who helped in a killing but did not themselves attack the victim.
The ruling is not expected to have any major consequence north of the Border as ‘ joint enterprise’ is not part of Scots law.
But last night the Scottish government said: ‘We will consider carefully whether there are any implications for Scotland.’
Campaigners have claimed for years that joint enterprise has been used unjustly by police and prosecutors to target youthful gangs and win murder convictions against young people who were in reality only bystanders.
But the widow of Jogee’s victim, former detective Paul Fyfe, from Aberdeen, said she was ‘terrified’ of meeting him if he is released. Tracey Fyfe added that the ruling was ‘absolutely disgusting and has been very hard for us as a family to deal with.’
Five judges led by Supreme Court President Lord neuberger ruled that juries in joint enterprise cases have
‘Absolutely disgusting’
been misdirected since 1985. A precedent set in a knife killing case in that year said that a suspect can be guilty of murder by joint enterprise if they ‘foresaw the possibility’ of the killing – for example they knew the killer had a gun and might use it.
In the Jogee appeal yesterday the Supreme Court justices said only someone who actively wants to help a killing can be convicted of joint enterprise murder.
But Lord neuberger said the principle of joint enterprise murder is ‘not in question’, adding: ‘A person who intentionally assists or encourages another to commit an offence is guilty of that offence as a secondary party.’
South of the Border, joint enterprise has been the basis of some famous murder cases. It was used to hang 19-year- old Derek Bentley after a burglary accomplice shot a policeman in 1952. It was also the basis of the convictions of two men, gary Dobson and David norris, for the 1993 race murder of 18- year- old Stephen Lawrence.
The Lawrence murderers are not affected by yesterday’s ruling.
But Ameen Jogee’s conviction for murder, the Supreme Court justices said, must be set aside.
Jogee, now 26, was sentenced to serve 20 years’ jail for the murder of Mr Fyfe. He and another drug dealer, Mohammed Hirsi, now 29, went to the house of Fyfe’s girlfriend, where there was a confrontation. Jogee, outside the house with a bottle, shouted at Hirsi to do something to Mr Fyfe. Hirsi struck the fatal blow, stabbing Mr Fyfe.
Lord neuberger said: ‘The conviction for murder must be set aside.’
But he added: ‘on the evidence and the jury’s verdict he was unquestionably guilty at least of manslaughter, and there was evidence on which they jury could have found him guilty of murder on a proper direction.’
He asked for submissions from lawyers for Jogee and the Crown on whether Jogee should be re-tried for murder or his conviction should be reduced to manslaughter.
under his current murder conviction Jogee will not be released until 2031. If the sentence were replaced with a typical ten-year manslaughter sentence he could be freed this year.