A man has been released from prison after becoming the first person to have a joint enterprise murder conviction quashed following a landmark ruling in the Supreme Court.
The court declared in 2016 that the law on joint enterprise — often used to convict defendants who were present in gang-related killings — had been wrongly interpreted for 30 years.
The law had led to many convictions of people who were present at a killing but did not strike the fatal blow. It was thought that dozens of prisoners would mount a challenge but few have.
In the first successful challenge to a murder conviction, John Crilly was freed yesterday after serving 13 years in prison. He was given a life sentence for murder and robbery