Victim’s mother gains support

THE country’s most senior prosecutor has helped a Failsworth mother to get better treatment for families affected by murder cases where there is an acquittal.

Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, helped to get top police, homicide, Victim Support, and government representatives around the table in London.

He responded following a meeting with Ann Roberts, who co-founded Justice After Acquittal (JAA) after her 17-year-old son Simon was stabbed through the heart in 2003.

At Manchester Crown Court, a jury failed to reach a verdict at the first murder trial into Simon’s death, and a second jury cleared the suspect of murder but could not decide on a manslaughter verdict.

She believes families faced with acquittals suffer a double trauma — losing a loved one and seeing no-one convicted for their death.

One of the aims of JAA has been to achieve national minimum standards of support for families following an acquittal.

Other aims include an appeals procedure for victims’ families similar to the Criminal Cases Review Commission used by guilty defendants; the law to be changed to include a “not decided” verdict; and free legal advice for victims’ families.

Mr Starmer organised the round table meeting in London which included representatives from the National Homicide Service, the Metropolitan Police and Louise Casey, the Government’s Victims Commissioner.

There will be a similar meeting in six months’ time.

Mrs Roberts said: “Obviously, the production of national minimum standards will be a milestone for the organisation and this meeting is viewed as a positive step forward.

“We are in touch with Louise Casey anyway and had a few meetings with her, she is very supportive.

“Over the last four years we have been heard by the criminal justice system but we want to bring this to the attention of wider society.

“We met Keir Starmer last year and asked if he could invite all these people and he did. It was the first time they had sat around the table together, although over the years we have met them individually, and we’re very pleased.”