| Guildford Four |
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| british wrongfully convicted people | |
| history of northern ireland | |
| 1990 in northern ireland | |
| 1975 in northern ireland | |
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BACKGROUND There was never any evidence that the Four had been involved with the IRA—and they did not "fit the bill" in terms of lifestyle. Patrick Armstrong and Carole Richardson lived in a Squat and had involvement with drugs and petty crime. At their trial the Guildford Four claimed they had been Tortured by police until they signed a confession. After they were convicted of Murder and received the mandatory sentence of Life Imprisonment , the judge expressed regret that the Four had not been charged with Treason , which then still had a mandatory Death Penalty . During the trial of the Balcombe Street Gang in February 1977 the four IRA men instructed their lawyers to "draw attention to the fact that four totally innocent people were serving massive sentences" for three bombings in Woolwich and Guildford . They were never charged with these offences. However, no evidence has ever been presented that proves the involvement of the four men, they never actually admitted any personal responsibility, and the IRA never identified the true perpetrators of the attack. The Four tried to make an appeal under Section 17 of Criminal Appeal Act 1968 (later repealed) but were unsuccessful and, in 1987 , the Home Office issued a memorandum recognizing that it was unlikely that the Four were terrorists but that this would not be sufficient evidence for appeal. FURTHER EVIDENCE AND A FINAL APPEAL In 1989 , a detective looking at the case found typed notes from Patrick Armstrong's police interviews which had been heavily edited. Deletions and additions had been made and the notes had been rearranged. These notes and their amendments were consistent with hand-written and typed notes presented at the trial, which suggested that the hand-written notes were made after the interviews had been conducted. The implication of this was that the police had manipulated the notes to fit with the case they wanted to present. An appeal was granted on the basis of this new evidence. The Lord Chief Justice , Lord Lane , said the police had either;
Either way, the police had lied, and the conclusion was if they had lied about this, the entire evidence was misleading and the Four were released still in 1989 . Paul Hill had also been convicted of the murder of a British soldier, Brian Shaw, having 'confessed' to the crime while in the custody of Surrey Police. He was released on bail pending his appeal against this conviction. In 1994 , the Court of Appeal in Belfast quashed Paul Hill's conviction for Brian Shaw's murder. Several family members of Gerry Conlon, including his father Giuseppe, his aunt and his 14- and 16-year-old cousins (the Maguire Seven ), were also imprisoned in the same case (mainly for explosives offences). Giuseppe Conlon died in prison. AFTER THE APPEALS Gerry Conlon's autobiography ''Proved Innocent'' was adapted into the Oscar - and Bafta -award nominated 1993 film '' In The Name Of The Father '', starring Daniel Day-Lewis , Emma Thompson and Pete Postlethwaite . He is reported to have settled with the government for a final payment of compensation in the region of £400,000 to £500,000. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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