Sam Hallam

Background

Aged 17, Hallam had been sentenced to serve a minimum of 12 years in prison for the murder of a trainee chef, Essayas Kassahun, during a street brawl in Old Street. Out of a group of six defendants, he was one of two people convicted and spent seven years in jail before his case was investigated by the Criminal Cases Review Commission and referred back to the Court of Appeal. Two witnesses claimed to have seen him at the scene, but their evidence was unreliable, with one witness attempting to go back on his statement in court, and another saying, "I just wanted someone to blame on the spot, really." No other evidence, forensic or otherwise, existed to link him to the scene, and Hallam always maintained he was not there, although he had no alibi to prove it.

The campaign

Friends and family of Hallam asked veteran human-rights campaigner Paul May to set up a campaign to prove his innocence. May mounted a legal appeal for Hallam and arranged numerous events and media interviews to publicise the case. Actor Ray Winstone presented a TV documentary which was screened in 2010 which outlined the flaws in the case against Hallam Playwright Tess Berry-Hart created a verbatim theatre play Someone To Blame as part of the campaign to raise awareness of the case. The play used verbatim court transcripts, witness testimony and first-person interviews from the original case and ran at the King's Head Theatre Islington in February 2012.

First appeal

In 2007 there was a failed appeal with the judges holding that the evidence of the witnesses could still be relied upon. The case was then referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which spent three years examining his case. Thames Valley Police was instructed on their behalf to examine the original Metropolitan Police investigation. Based on their findings, the case was sent back to the Court of Appeal.

Second appeal

In May 2012 after only three hours hearing, the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to defend the conviction, and the three judges led by Lady Justice Hallett granted temporary bail. Hallam walked out the front doors of the Court of Appeal and was drenched in champagne. The next day, Hallam attended court with his mother Wendy Cohen to hear his murder conviction formally overturned. After Sam's release, Someone To Blame was updated for a weekend run at the King's Head to celebrate his freedom. Sadly, Hallam's father and grandmother had both died whilst he was imprisoned.

Later events

Hallam launched a legal challenge in January 2015 challenging the law that prevents him from receiving compensation for the years he wrongly spent in prison.