Miscarriage of justice: reduction of compensation/Reduziert Entschädigung nach Fehlurteil

Mir gefällt diese englische Entscheidung nicht besonders, sie ist aber nicht korrekt wiedergegeben worden.
n-tv report (via law blog)

Siehe Korrektur bei der Guardian.

The Guardian corrected its article on the Bridgewater Two, which originally said that the two men, released after 18 years of wrongful imprisonment, had to pay 25% of their compensation for board and lodging (and presumably not very good board and lodging, and not in friendly surroundings, since they were charged with killing a child, a paperboy Carl Bridgewater – I can remember the case):

bq. The report below may mistakenly have given the impression that the three people concerned had been ordered to pay back 25% of their total compensation because of living expenses not incurred while they were in jail. The order related only to one element in their compensation and not to the whole sum, as the figures quoted accurately in the report should have made clear.

The Guardian’s figures make it clear that it was more like 5 to 6 per cent of the total award that was to go for accommodation. This was 25% of the loss of earnings element. Incidentally, it appears the deductions would not happen in Scotland, so the word ‘British’ is inappropriate for the case:

bq. The appeal court ruled in favour of other aspects of the challenges made on behalf of Mr O’Brien. The assessor has been in the practice of awarding a lump sum without explaining how figures were arrived at.

bq. Lawyers for the claimants argued this practice resulted in glaring inconsistencies. In future, claimants must be told how much they are getting for each aspect of their ordeal.

bq. Furthermore, future awards must be based on rules that apply in the civil courts rather than an arbitrary sum decided by the assessor. The “bed and breakfast” ruling appears peculiar to the prison system in England and Wales. The Guardian has seen a letter from the Scottish executive which states that it does not intend to deduct saved living expenses from people jailed wrongfully.

n-tv has an account in German which does not even mention the figures.

One should always distrust journalists’ accounts of court cases, and all the more so if they are reporting on a foreign country. The court was the Court of Appeal.

2 thoughts on “Miscarriage of justice: reduction of compensation/Reduziert Entschädigung nach Fehlurteil

  1. Danke, ich habe es ersetzt. Das scheint Udos oder Bloggers Schuld zu sein – das Permalink dort ist ausnahmsweise nicht in Ordnung.

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