The court of appeal could salvage a little credit from the disaster of the Eddie Gilfoyle case through the expedient of asking the Criminal Cases Review Commission to refer the case to them forthwith (Eddie Gilfoyle free after maintaining innocence for 18 years in jail, 23 December).
In doing so – as it did with the case of Sean Hodgson in 2009 – it could expedite the commission's meticulous but inevitably lengthy review process. There would be no prejudice to the appeal (which in any case might not be opposed by the crown) where the issue would remain the safety of the conviction in the light of non-disclosure and changed expert evidence. I appreciate that Mr Gilfoyle cannot hope for a judicial declaration of his innocence – I have only known the court to do so on two occasions – but it would at least give him a few more months of life as an unconvicted man. And I, for one, think he is owed that.
David Jessel
Oxford
