Falsely convicted Brian Buckle denied compensation after acquittal, family says

Brian Buckle walked out of court cleared of historical child sex offences after five years and four months in prison, but the state still refused to pay compensation for the years he lost. His family says the legal battle to erase his conviction cost about £500,000 and left them in debt.

Buckle was convicted in 2017 and given a 15-year sentence for 16 counts. The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in September 2022, and a retrial in May 2023 ended with a unanimous not guilty verdict after just over an hour. His defence relied on fresh forensic evidence and new witnesses, and a new forensics expert examined DNA evidence that helped overturn the case.

The Ministry of Justice rejected Buckle’s compensation claim under the post-2014 test requiring an exonerated person to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he did not commit the offence. Only 6.6% of wrongful conviction cases now result in compensation. Buckle has said he received no support when he was released and was referred to an ex-offenders’ mental health meeting despite being acquitted. He has since been diagnosed with PTSD. His family says the fight to clear his name left them on the breadline and in debt, with his wife, daughter and other relatives helping push the case after years of legal work.

Plaid Cymru MP Ben Lake raised Buckle’s case in Parliament and asked the Prime Minister to meet him and back fairer compensation rules. Keir Starmer said the government would “have a look” at the case, while justice minister Alex Davies-Jones said the wider question of where compensation should be drawn remained.

Buckle has also launched a campaign and petition calling for the law to change so people wrongly convicted can receive fair compensation after they are cleared.