AN IRISHMAN who was wrongly imprisoned in Britain for 17 years has been denied compensation by the British Government.
Victor Nealon, 53, spent nearly two decades behind bars in Britain after being convicted in January 1997 of the attempted rape of a woman leaving a nightclub in Redditch.
But despite being freed last December after his defence team discovered key evidence that police failed to disclose at the time of his initial trial, the Dubliner’s claim for compensation has been rejected.
The Ministry of Justice told Mr Nealon's lawyer that Justice Secretary Chris Grayling reviewed his case and concluded that his client had not suffered a miscarriage of justice as defined by the law.
Mark Newby, Mr Nealon’s solicitor, described the ruling as “ludicrous”.
He added: "It's a nonsense. At the end of the day, his conviction was quashed on the basis that someone else was responsible, so why should he not be entitled to compensation?"
Mr Nealon, who currently lives in temporary accommodation in Birmingham, told The Irish Post that he intends to challenge the ruling.
The former postman spoke out about how his wrongful imprisonment impacted his life in a BBC documentary last month.
“I have lost friends, I lost a partner, I lost my job, I have lost anything I ever had in my life prior to going to prison,” he said.
The body responsible for reviewing potential miscarriages of justice, the Criminal Cases Review Commission, turned down two requests from Mr Nealon.
He was denied early parole from prison because he refused to admit to the attempted rape.
Mr Nealon added: “I could have been out at least 10 to 12 years ago but, on account of the CCRC and their failure to research a paper trail, I remained in prison.”
His conviction was quashed last year at the Court of Appeal after tests commissioned by his lawyers revealed the DNA of another, unknown man on an item of the victim’s clothing that had not been disclosed by West Mercia Police.
