Discontent among legal professionals over the financial compensation cap for notorious criminal Peter Sullivan, who may have to wait years before receiving his £1 million award.
Informal Take:
There's a heap of fuss brewing over the fact that Peter Sullivan, who spent 3-friggin-8 years in the clink for a murder he never did, is only set to pocket a measly £1million in compensation, according to lawyers. The MoJ is under the pump to scrap the cap on their compensation scheme for wronged convicts.
Lawyers claim that the moolah ol' Sullivan is gonna bag is chump change compared to what actual crooks get handed after getting hurt on prison grounds. The 68-year-old ex-labourer, who just got sprung from A-category Wakefield Prison following the Court of Appeal axing his 1986 murder conviction for florist, Diane Sindall, is a prime example of this unfairness.
Under present rules, the maximum compo payout is £1mil, meaning ol' Pete would scrounge around £26k a year for his prison stint. Lawyers want Labor to rethink their cap, which was first introduced in 2008.
Chattin' to Mail, Lawyer Toby Wilton - reppin' Andrew Malkinson in his compo bid after a 17-year rape conviction - said, "It's a total rip-off to have a cap in the first place." He went on, "£1mil ain't even close to gettin' a wronged convict back to where they'd be if they ain't gone to jail at all." Wilton also insisted that the £1mil cap doesn't take into account the reputational damage ol' Sullivan faced, bein' dubbed the Beast of Birkenhead and all.
Comparing ol' Sullivan's case to Malkinson's, who had his conviction quashed in 2023, Wilton stated, "They're both pretty high-profile cases, with high-profile crimes... and both have had to deal with the struggle of being considered a sex offender or a murderer, with all the reputation-damagin' bullshit that comes with it."
Wilson's only received an interim compo payout, while ol' Sullivan will be chillin' for months, if not years, waitin' on his payments. Barrister Chris Henley KC, who had a squizz at the Malkinson case review, told Times Radio, "£1mil sounds a lot, but it really isn't. We gotta be more generous to folks who've gone through ol' Pete's ordeal."
Burglar Steven Wilson scored a cool £5.4mil after gettin' stabbed in a prison canteen back in 2018, while epileptic Ryan St George nabbed £4.7mil for brain damage from fallin' outta an upper bunk durin' a seizure in 2012[2][3]. A MoJ spokesperson stated that they're thinkin' about options to make sure they properly support wronged convicts but didn't specify their next moves.
Many argue the current £1mil cap is too low, with the standard bein' to prove innocence beyond all reasonable doubt. Some Also claim that the bar is set too high, makin' it hard for many genuinely innocent people to get their hands on compo[1][5]. These cases and others have sparked discussions about the fairness and appropriateness of the current compensation system.
[1] Guardian - Compensation for wrongly convicted people is a national disgrace, UK lawyers say[2] Independent - Wrongly convicted Americans given millions in compensation while British victims struggle for scraps[3] Mirror - The miscarriage of justice that left an innocent man locked up for 38 years[4] Court of Appeal decision in Peter Sullivan's case[5] Law Society Gazette - Fix the compensation system for wrongly convicted, QCs tell the government
- In the discourse on personal-finance matters, the contentious issue of news surrounding Peter Sullivan's compensation of £1million, a figure deemed insufficient by lawyers, has come to the forefront, especially when compared to compensation awarded to actual criminals.
- The gigantic sum of £5.4 million received by burglar Steven Wilson for a prison injury and the £4.7 million awarded to epileptic Ryan St George for prison-related brain damage are stark contrasts to the £1million cap on compensation for wrongfully convicted individuals like Peter Sullivan.
- The general-news media is abuzz with discussions on the fairness and appropriateness of the current compensation system, as many argue that the £1million cap is too low and the bar for proving innocence too high, making it challenging for genuinely innocent individuals to secure compensation.
- Beyond the specific case of Peter Sullivan, various instances of miscarriage of justice and inadequate compensation have called for an overhaul in the finance sector, particularly in wealth-management practices, to ensure fairer treatment for those wrongfully convicted, such as providing more generous compensation for the devastating permanent effects on their personal-finance and reputation.
