Hang on a moment - there are dozens of convictions without corpses.

One man in prison whilst I was there was serving life for killing his wife... when she turned up alive and well!

Mind you he still spent months inside until they had confirmed her identity.

Some people (like me) went to jail with no evidence at all that a crime had even been committed - just one person's word against another's and (police assisted) similarities in the stories.

I think its more a case of not being able to prove WHICH person did it, JK.

I remember a case in the UK some years ago where both parents were suspects in the death of their child but as neither parent would "implicate" the other (in fact they refused to answer ANY questions at all) the CPS had to drop the case.

You have to prove someone "did it" - beyond a reasonable doubt, and if yoiu charged both then the defence lawyers would simply point the finger at the other causing considerable doubt !

I'm sure that's the case, ITK.

However, how on earth the police/CPS/jury came to the conclusion that JK was guilty beyond reasonable doubt, when there was absolutely nothing even remotely approaching evidence in his case, I will never understand. And he's far from the only victim of such injustice.

I heard a bot of a programme on Radio 4 this afternoon about "open ended" jail terms, caused by undecisve sentencing.
Can anyone shed any light on this as I only caught a bit of it.

I agree. It's an absolute mockery of the "innocent until proven guilty" claim when the prosecution are not required to produce any evidence beyond an allegation. How can there possibly be no reasonable doubt in such cases? I'm amazed that judges do not bring a halt to proceedings.

When no evidence is required for a conviction, then we are all presumed guilty - a complete reversal of the principles of British Law - and non of us are safe from wrongful conviction.

I wonder the media don't pick up on this. Or are they afraid to endanger their prospects of yet more sensational "kiddie-fiddler" headlines. Is money more important to them than truth and lives?

No Al, as you'll guess I've given a lot of thought to this.

I think that we all are so frightened of the ramifications if the Justice system IS corrupt that the media - and us readers/watchers/listeners - don't want to read stories that imply this.

And Editors (even liberal intelligent ones) shy away from them.

Mart wrote:
I heard a bot of a programme on Radio 4 this afternoon about "open ended" jail terms, caused by undecisve sentencing.
Can anyone shed any light on this as I only caught a bit of it.

One of the many new ideas of this government is "open ended jail terms".

I'll give you an example - sex offenders are sent to prison UNTIL they have completed rehabilitation courses, and until then they cannot be considered for parole.

One slight problem with this - many of the prisons that they are sent to do not even have such courses available making it impossible for them to get a release.

I believe Judges have branded this illegal and a case is currently under review.