Vulnerable man may have been manipulated into false Hackney murder confession, hearing told

• Hannah Pettifer reports on the Court of Appeal hearing

A man with learning difficulties may have been manipulated by the police into giving a false confession to a murder decades ago, the Court of Appeal has heard.

Oliver Campbell, from Ipswich in Suffolk, was jailed for life in 1991 for shooting shopkeeper Baldev Hoondle in Hackney, London, the previous July.

The 53-year-old was released in 2002 and is appealing against his conviction, which his barristers said is "unsafe" and should be quashed.

The hearing was told that Campbell, who suffered brain damage as a baby, was "badgered and bullied" by police into giving a false confession over his involvement.

Giving evidence in London on Thursday, February 29, forensic psychologist Prof Gisli Hannes Gudjonsson said that there was a "high risk" that Campbell’s mental disabilities meant he gave a false confession during "relentless" questioning.

He said: "He was confronted with a situation. He was being questioned. It was not clear to him that the police thought he had done it, and he was claiming he had not done it, and basically, it came to a point that resistance was breaking down.

"He was giving the police what he thought they wanted, believing that he might then get out or they may stop interrogating him.

"The mindset is, there is relentless questioning, how can I stop them questioning me? How can I get them off my back?

"Eventually, people realise they are not going anywhere, they realise the only way out now is to say it was an accident or something like that.

"This is a high-risk situation. I can’t say whether this is a false confession or not, it is not for me to say.

"I am looking at the science, and the science tells me that there are several cumulative risk factors that increase the likelihood of this being a false confession."

The Crown Prosecution Service is resisting the appeal, brought to court by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Prof Gudjonsson carried out psychometric tests on Campbell in the 1990s and again in 2021, telling the court that science has since developed to provide a greater understanding of how and why suspects can give false confessions even if they are innocent.

This included a greater understanding of Campbell’s brain injury and how this affected his cognitive abilities.

Prof Gudjonsson said that Campbell scored "abnormally high" on tests for acquiescence, meaning a "tendency of the person to agree to something irrespective of content".

This, he said, meant Campbell was more likely to give affirmative answers to questions put to him by police when he was in doubt, "significantly" increasing the risk of him inadvertently making the decision to confess to the crime.

Campbell was interviewed 14 times by police during the investigation, many of which took place without a solicitor or appropriate adult, something Prof Gudjonsson said was “seriously problematic”.

He said: "He was so vulnerable, he clearly needed an appropriate adult who was effective, and a solicitor who was cognisant to any pressure that was unfair."

He added the techniques of questioning by the police were "dangerous" and said: "These kinds of manipulations do significantly increase the risk of a false confession."

Campbell was 21 when he was convicted of murder and conspiracy to rob following an Old Bailey trial.

A cap bought by Campbell in the days before the killing was found near the scene, but the hairs inside it did not belong to him.

Campbell’s co-defendant, Eric Samuels, was cleared of murder but jailed for five years after admitting robbery.

Campbell’s barrister, Michael Birnbaum KC, said on Wednesday that Samuels – who has since died – had told people that Campbell was not the gunman.

This evidence was not presented to jurors at the trial.

Mr Birnbaum added officers may have "deliberately lied" to Campbell to get confessions.

Lord Justice Holroyde, Mrs Justice Stacey and Mr Justice Bourne adjourned proceedings on Thursday, 29 February, with the CPS to make its submissions at another hearing.

Lord Justice Holroyde apologised to Campbell and the family of Mr Hoondle, but said the "important and difficult" case "must be properly addressed".

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