Compensation cuts anger of wrongly jailed man
A reinvestigation of the murder of newsagent Phillip Saunders began in 2003 but found no further evidence
At a glance
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Michael O’Brien says £37,500 was deducted from compensation to cover living costs while in prison for a murder he did not commit
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He says people wrongly jailed are ‘treated worse than the real criminals’
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Ministry of Justice says compensation requests are ‘properly assessed independent of government’
A miscarriage of justice victim who spent a decade in jail is backing calls for changes to compensation pay-outs that allow deductions for living costs while in prison.
Michael O’Brien said more than £37,000 was deduced from his award for “food and water” after he was one of three men wrongly convicted of killing Cardiff newsagent Phillip Saunders in 1987.
The debate has reignited following the case of Andrew Malkinson, 57, who was cleared of a rape he did not commit, who called the rules “kind of sick“.
The UK government said it has no plans for changes but keeps all laws under review.
Michael O’Brien, pictured here in 2015, is now an author and prison reformer
The rules date back to a decision made in 2007 by the House of Lords when Mr O’Brien and others tried to appeal against deductions for their prison board and lodgings.
It said that money could be deducted from compensation for “saved living expenses”.
Sir Bob Neill, chairman of the Justice Select Committee, said when the decision was made on reducing compensation, it was thought taxpayers would be offended at paying money to someone who was freed on a technicality.
However, Sir Bob said Mr Malkinson was not cleared on a technicality, but on DNA evidence.
He wrongly spent 17 years in jail, and the MP said it was “clearly not right” that people should lose money “for the privilege of having been wrongly incarcerated”.
“That surely offends any any kind of sense of justice,” he added.
‘Treated worse than real criminals’
Mr O’Brien, who is now an author and prison reformer, said: “I was charged £37,500 for my food and water whilst I was in prison.
“I didn’t choose to be there.
“I feel like we’re getting treated worse than the real criminals,” he told BBC Radio Wales Sunday Supplement
“The only way we can change this now is for the MPs to be so outraged that they change the law.”
The Ministry of Justice said: “It is only right victims of miscarriages of justice can apply for compensation and that all requests are properly assessed independent of government.”
Mr O’Brien was cleared in 1999 along with Darren Hall and Ellis Sherwood – known collectively as the Cardiff Newsagent Three.
A reinvestigation of the murder of Mr Saunders began in 2003 but found no further evidence.
In 2015, a police report concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone over the miscarriage of justice.
