Brain-damaged man jailed for homicide in 1991 has conviction quashed
- Oliver Campbell was jailed for the fatal shooting of Baldev Hoondle in July 1990
- Campbell, now 53, has been brain damaged since he was eight months old
- Three judges ruled on Wednesday that Campbell’s conviction was ‘unsafe’
A brain damaged ‘killer’ jailed for life over the fatal shooting of a shopkeeper 33 years ago said his ‘fight for justice is finally over’ after the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction, following ‘compelling’ evidence he had not committed the crime.
Oliver Campbell, who has severe learning disabilities after suffering brain damage as a baby, was jailed for the fatal shooting of Baldev Hoondle during a robbery at a shop in Hackney, east London, on July 22, 1990.
The now-53-year-old’s case, who was convicted in 1991, had been referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), a body that investigates potential miscarriages of justice, after new evidence emerged over Campbell’s ‘vulnerabilities’.
His lawyers suggested new evidence proved he ‘cannot be’ the killer and argued that he had been ‘badgered and bullied’ by police into giving a false confession.
On Wednesday morning his conviction was overturned.
Brain damaged ‘killer’ Oliver Campbell, who was jailed for life over the fatal shooting of a shopkeeper 33 years ago, has had his conviction overturned by the Court of Appeal
Campbell suffered severe brain damage as an eight-month-old baby and continues to struggle with memory, concentration and retaining information
Three judges ruled that Campbell’s conviction for the murder of Hoondle was ‘unsafe’.
Following the news, Mr Campbell said: ‘The fight for justice is finally over after nearly 34 years.
‘I can start my life an innocent man.’
His supporters added: ‘We are all in tears. This is the best news. Ollie’s life starts now.
‘He thanks his legal team, Michael, Rose and Glyn, and his supporters, and his foster mum Jean, and especially Teresa.’
Mr Campbell was 21 when he was jailed following a trial at the Old Bailey, having also been convicted of conspiracy to rob.
In their ruling, Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Bourne and Mrs Justice Stacey, said they had ‘concluded that the convictions are unsafe’.
He said: ‘We accept that, considered in the light of the fresh evidence, the rulings might be different.’
He continued: ‘A jury knowing of the fresh evidence would be considering the reliability of those confessions in a materially different context.
‘In those circumstances, we cannot say that the fresh evidence could not reasonably have affected the decision of the jury to convict.’
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The court of Appeal decision came following a a two-day hearing in London at the end of February.
Barristers for Campbell – who was released from prison in 2002 – argued there was a ‘compelling’ case proving his innocence.
Campbell suffered severe brain damage as an eight-month-old baby and continues to struggle with memory, concentration and retaining information.
Michael Birnbaum KC, representing Campbell, said: ‘There are ample grounds on which you could find these convictions to be unsafe.
‘There is no one factor here that proves innocence.
Baldev Hoondle was fatally shot during a robbery at a shop in Hackney, east London, on July 22, 1990
‘Rather, I will seek to put before the court a combination of factors so compelling they prove that Oliver Campbell cannot be the man who shot Baldev Hoondle.’
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is opposing the appeal.
Campbell was 21 when he was jailed after being convicted of murder and conspiracy to rob following a trial at the Old Bailey.
Jurors were told the gunman wore a British Knights baseball cap, which was found a few hundred yards from the scene.
Mr Birnbaum said Campbell had purchased the cap in the days before the killing, but hairs found inside it following the shooting were not his.
When the cap was shown on Crimewatch, a shop assistant from Stratford recognised the cap, having sold just three – two to employees and one to Campbell, then of Manor Road, Stratford, east London.
It emerged that while he did purchase the hat, it had been stolen in the West End before the shooting, the court heard.
The two men who had tried to rob Mr Hoondle and subsequently murdered him were described as five foot 10 inches in height.
Campbell is six foot three inches.
Mr Birnbaum added that he was also not picked out of an identity parade by Mr Hoondle’s son, despite him having come ‘face to face’ with the gunman.
Campbell was taken to Plaistow police station and was processed in just 12 minutes, signing a custody record to confirm he did not want a solicitor or an appropriate adult.
Initially, he denied involvement but then admitted he had been the unarmed robber after an officer misleadingly suggested he had dropped his hat in the shop, the court heard.
Campbell agreed to this and was then taken to Hackney police station where he was seen by a doctor who found him to be of limited intelligence.
He was then interviewed at length and one officer even created opportunities to talk to Campbell off the record, when no tape recording could be made.
One of the main symptoms of his brain damage is problems with memory and concentration, the court was told.
During another interview with the force, his solicitor left and the police station called his foster mother to act as an appropriate adult to conduct a fourth interview.
It was in that interview that he admitted to being the gunman, saying the gun had gone off accidentally.
Campbell, pictured at the time of his arrest, received the news on Wednesday morning that his conviction had been deemed ‘unsafe’ by the Court of Appeal
Campbell then claimed to have hired the gun, together with a number of bullets but could not remember where from, his barrister claimed.
He said he had practiced with the gun and hidden it, but could not remember if he had done so in a field or a forest.
He also initially said he fired the gun with his left hand and then changed to say he had done so with his right hand.
Campbell explained when he was in the shop ‘I said: ‘Hand over the money’.’
Hardip, the son of Mr Hoondle, who was 22 at the time, never mentioned being asked for money to be handed over.
Barristers for Campbell argued that he could not possibly have been the man who committed the murder of Baldev Hoondle
Campbell also claimed he had the gun tied with string under his left arm as ‘that is the only way I thought it would be comfortable.’
He was asked which hand he had the gun and answered: ‘This hand,’ pointing to his right hand.
Mr Birmbaum said: ‘It is virtually inconceivable that anyone, no matter how dexterous would do this.
‘Assuming it is possible for someone to do that, we ask how is it possible for Oliver to do that, when his left hand is by far his stronger hand.’
Mr Birnbaum added: ‘The detectives were plainly convinced that, since he was the owner of the hat and had admitted a presence at the robbery, he must have been the shooter, and they were determined to get him to admit that fact.’
‘They lied to him and told him there were several witnesses to him buying the hat when in fact there was only one – the girl who sold him the hat.
‘The reason for the nonsense of Oliver’s confession were simply because he was not there, and did not know the details of what happened.’
Campbell’s co-defendant at trial, Eric Samuels, who has since died, was cleared of murder but was jailed for five years after admitting robbery.
Barristers told today’s hearing that Samuels had told his solicitor Campbell was not the gunman and there is ‘irrefutable’ evidence that he ‘told people over 10 years that Oliver was not with him in the robbery’.
But this was not disclosed to jurors at trial as it was deemed ‘inadmissible hearsay’, with Campbell’s learning difficulties meaning he was ‘simply unable to do justice to himself’ when giving evidence.
Mr Birnbaum said: ‘He might well have appeared to the judge and the jury to be a liar when he was simply a mentally challenged young man who was completely out of his depth in giving evidence in front of the jury in what is probably the largest and most intimidating courtroom in the land.’
The court was told that Campbell was interviewed during the police investigation without a solicitor and officers may have ‘deliberately lied’ to him to adduce confessions.
Since his conviction, Campbell has been fighting to clear his name, losing his first appeal back in 1994, before a second appeal was dismissed in 2019
He was interviewed 14 times but in some cases did not have a solicitor or appropriate adult present.
Campbell’s learning difficulties meant he made admissions described as ‘simply absurd’, ‘nonsense’ and containing a ‘litany of inconsistencies’ against the facts of the case, judges heard.
Forensic psychologist Professor Gisli Hannes Gudjonsson also told judges that there was a ‘high risk’ that Mr Campbell’s mental disabilities meant he gave a false confession as a form of ‘acquiescence’ during ‘relentless’ questioning.
A previous appeal against Campbell’s conviction was dismissed in 1994, with the CCRC declining to refer the case in 2005 before making the current referral in 2022.
Mr Birnbaum said that, while the CCRC had previously undertaken a ‘very fine and thorough investigation’ into Campbell’s case, it reached the ‘wrong decision in deciding not to refer the case’ almost two decades ago.
Since his conviction, Campbell has been fighting to clear his name, losing his first appeal back in 1994, before a second appeal was dismissed in 2019.
He was freed on licence in 2002, but continues to live under restrictions meaning he needs permission to get a job and is prevented from travelling abroad.
Campbell said: ‘Whatever happened in the past, they can’t bring it back. The person who did the crime is still out there and the shopkeeper’s friends and family have not had justice.’
