Earlier this year, the Socialist ended an article with the words “Hopefully 2024 will be the year that Oliver gets justice”. Oliver Campbell, who has learning difficulties, was forced into a false confession by the police without a solicitor or appropriate adult present, spent decades in prison and since then campaigning to clear his name. The news that Oliver, convicted of a murder he did not commit in 1991, has had his conviction quashed is an important step towards him realising justice.
Below is an edited version of Socialist Party member and campaigner for justice for Oliver, Teresa Mackay’s speech to Thurrock trades council in 2022.
More than 30 years ago, Oliver got involved in the campaign against the poll tax. Because of this, Socialist Party members heard about his case and campaigned for him.
In the same year as Oliver’s arrest, others faced similar charges – Cardiff five, M25, Tottenham three. They had one thing in common, they were all Black. Some have seen justice, Oliver has not.
There is no forensic evidence linking Oliver to the 1990 murder, and Oliver was not capable of conducting such a crime. In 2015, the local MP wrote to then Tory home secretary Theresa May about Oliver’s campaign for justice, but nothing happened.
As Oliver said: “I was put under pressure to say things I didn’t want to say.” Stephen Mullinger, his solicitor at the time, said his confession would be ruled inadmissible today because of his severe learning difficulties and the fact he had no legal representation when he confessed.
Oliver is not a free man. Due to his criminal record, he is forever under threat of recall and being hauled back in by the police at any time.
He desperately wants to visit his Mum in the US, but cannot until his name is cleared. Oliver has said: “I could have had a full-time job, married and travelled the world”. He has waited twice as long as the Birmingham Six and Maguire Four to clear his name. Oliver recently turned 51. Well over half his life has been spent, if not in prison itself, in the prison without bars, fighting for justice.
