'I can start again': Freed Oliver Campbell wants to see world after 1990 murder conviction quashed

A man with learning difficulties who was wrongly imprisoned for murder says he is already planning to travel the world, having had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal.

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

But on Wednesday three judges ruled that Mr Campbell’s conviction was “unsafe” and it was overturned.

Speaking after the result, Mr Campbell said he felt "very happy" to be free.

"I've missed out on a lot of things that I wanted to do in my own life, and now I can start it up all over again," he said.

Long-time friend Teresa MacKay, who met Mr Campbell when she visited him in Hollesley Bay prison, has supported him throughout the appeal and was alongside as they heard the judgement.

She said: "There's a real mixture of emotions; feeling obviously incredibly relieved but also incredibly angry that we've been in this situation for so long."

Mr Campbell may have missed out on his youth, but he plans to make up for it now.

Ms MacKay said: "He's got family in the USA he would like to visit and he's got friends in different parts of the world he'd like to see, and he hasn't been able to do that.

"He can have that burden taken off him now and can actually feel like a free man," she added.

"But we've still got to remember that he has missed out on his youth. He could have had a family, he could have travelled, and that's all gone."

Another of Mr Campbell's supporters, former Ipswich MP Sandy Martin, described the appeal as one of the longest miscarriages of justice he had ever come across.

He said: "The various things that went in to convicting Oliver were so bizarre and so unreasonable that he should never have been found guilty in the first place."It should have been thrown out almost instantaneously at the first appeal."I think the justice system needs to look at itself and ask why it takes so long, why it is so difficult to get unfair convictions overturned."

The overturning comes after new evidence about Mr Campbell’s “mental state”, related to the severe brain damage he suffered as a baby, would mean a jury’s decision today “might be different” and therefore rendered the convictions “unsafe”.

Forensic psychologist Prof Gisli Hannes Gudjonsson, who examined Mr Campbell in the 1990s and again in 2021, gave evidence at the appeal.

He said that there was a "high risk" that Mr Campbell’s mental disabilities meant he gave a false confession during "relentless" questioning.

Ms MacKay, who describes Mr Campbell as a "gentle giant" said: "There's no way Oliver could ever have done anything like this.

"He hasn't got a dodgy bone in his body."

Mr Campbell said: "I knew in my own mind that it wasn't me from day one in 1990."

Earlier this year, a hearing was told that Mr Campbell was "badgered and bullied" by police into giving a false confession over his involvement.

However, in their ruling Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Bourne and Mrs Justice Stacey, dismissed arguments related to “serious allegations” against police officers.

When asked what he thought of the police, Mr Campbell sighed deeply and said he was "disgusted" with how officers had behaved.

"They took advantage of me, there's a lot of questions gonna be [asked] about the police force."

Ms MacKay added: "The fact that he's black has had an awful lot to do with it.""The number of black men who are in prison for crimes they didn't commit is off the scale and we really need to be looking into the amount of racism there is in the police force, and that people like Oliver are put away for something he's never done," she added.

In a statement after the judgement, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "The murder of Baldev Singh Hoondle in July 1990 was fully investigated by detectives at the time with a range of evidence brought before a jury who convicted the defendant the following year.

"We are aware of today’s decision by the Court of Appeal in relation to Mr Campbell’s conviction. We await the full judgement and will review these findings.

"We will continue to provide support to Mr Hoondle’s family."

But Mr Campbell and his supporters said it would not stop them from celebrating.

Ms MacKay said: "Anybody who knows Oliver loves him, and is just so pleased that it's happened."

He is now planning a party to celebrate the quashed conviction.

"People down in the next road will think 'what is that noise?'" he laughed.

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