Teresa MacKay, Ipswich Socialist Party
Oliver Campbell has been fighting to clear his name for 34 years and is back at the Royal Courts of Justice this month where it is expected to be overturned.
In 1990, he was picked up and questioned by the Metropolitan Police for the murder of a shopkeeper in Hackney, spending 11 years behind bars. Eric Samuel, who was prosecuted, insisted that Oliver was not his accomplice.
‘Confession’
Oliver is 6’3” and Black, and known as ‘the gentle giant’, with severe learning difficulties. The two robbers were 5’10”. He made his ‘confession’ after 14 police interviews, without a lawyer or appropriate adult present. He was convicted in 1991 and has been on life license since 2002.
Police found a baseball cap near the scene, matching one Oliver had recently bought, which had been stolen in Leicester Square. His co-accused, Mr Samuel, admitted to being involved in the robbery, identified the real killer to the police, insisting that Oliver had nothing to do with the murder. The jury were not told this, as it was judged “hearsay”.
Clear his name
Myself; Glyn Maddocks, Oliver’s solicitor for 23 years; Sandy Martin former Labour MP for Ipswich; and his PA Maggie, have continued to fight to clear Oliver’s name, with support from the Socialist Party and Youth Against Racism in Europe.
Hopefully 2024 will be the year that Oliver gets justice.
