Court of Appeal Overturns Brothers’ Conviction After 20-Year Legal Battle

On 5 November 2003, an elderly couple Carol and Graham Fisher were murdered in their remote home in Wadebridge, Cornwall.

Following their arrest in 2004, Lee Firkins and his brother Robert were remanded in prison. The prosecution case centred on an alleged cell confession made by Robert to a fellow remand inmate. In January 2006 the brothers were convicted at Exeter Crown Court.

For almost 20 years, John Lyons, instructed by Hickman and Rose and subsequently by Bird & Co. worked on the case together with James Wood KC.

After two appeals to the Court of Appeal, applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission and an application to the European Court of Human Rights, in December 2023 the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of both brothers.

As a result of the efforts by the defence since conviction, it had become clear that the key prosecution witness suffered from severe psychopathy. Together with other fresh evidence obtained by the defence since the trial, the Court of Appeal held that it was unsafe to rely on cell confession evidence.

The Court of Appeal ordered a retrial and the successful outcome of the appeal could not be reported at the time. One year on, on 16 December 2024, the prosecution has now finally offered no evidence and not guilty verdicts have been entered.

In the course of preparing the appeal John Lyons reviewed how courts internationally treat cell confession evidence. He commented: “It is alarmingly easy for dishonest inmates to fabricate false cell confessions as a means of seeking revenge or gaining personal benefits, such as reduced sentences or rewards. It is time for English courts to introduce robust safeguards to restrict the reliance on cell confession evidence.”

John Lyons specialises exclusively in criminal defence and is instructed on behalf of potential victims of miscarriages of justice and is involved in representing those seeking to appeal historic criminal convictions through the Criminal Cases Review Commission. Read more: [John Lyons Profile ]

[BBC News]

[ITV News]