'No amount of compensation is enough'

As the government announces plans to cap compensation for wrongful convictions, the BBC News website asks victims of past miscarriages of justice for their reaction.

That no amount of money is compensation enough for wrongful imprisonment is a common view.

John Kamara: Still being counselled about his experiences

"I don't think you can compensate for the length of time people are imprisoned - what figure can you put on it?", says John Kamara.

Mr Kamara was freed in March 2000 after more than 19 years in prison, wrongfully convicted of the 1981 murder of a bookmaker in Toxteth, Liverpool.

Raphael Rowe, one of the M25 Three wrongly convicted of murder and a series of robberies in 1988, says: "You cannot measure the damage an injustice causes."

Freed in 2000 after 12 years' imprisonment, he says victims of miscarriages of justice can be deprived of the chance to develop careers, or to have relationships that prepare them for starting a family.

"These are things you cannot compensate for," he says.

"I find it quite outrageous that the home secretary could say to people, 'If you have suffered at the hands of the criminal justice system, through no fault of your own, we are going to do nothing to compensate you.'"

First appeals

Home Secretary Charles Clarke has announced that people who win appeals at the first attempt will receive no compensation.

"If someone has been wrongly convicted, it doesn't matter if it's six months or 20-odd years, I believe that they are entitled to compensation," says Mr Kamara.

There are going to be people who come out and their heads will be shot to bits John Kamara Pay-outs cut by £5m

The home secretary also announced that the total paid in compensation for miscarriages of justice would be cut by £5m a year, to be ploughed back into criminal justice and support for victims of crime.

Paddy Hill, one of the Birmingham Six wrongly convicted of IRA bombings in the 1970s, says: "They are trying to play one set of victims off against another.

"In today's society there's every possibility to be a victim of crime but you don't expect to be a victim of miscarriage of justice."

He added: "I'm very angry about this announcement."

Support call

Mr Kamara has been campaigning since his release for more support for people freed after wrongful convictions.

He says he came out with only "the clothes I was standing up in and £46", but was told he was not entitled to benefits because he had not been paying national insurance.

Your mind is scarred forever Raphael Rowe

But he also received no Probation Service support, being told that was only offered to people guilty of crimes.

He admits he "blew" his first interim compensation payment of about £70,000, partly due to a lack of initial support.

"It was hard at first getting into normal life, but I met a partner and now have two children and that has helped a lot."

He is now setting up a charity, Life after life, that he hopes will be providing accommodation and support to victims of miscarriages of justice by the end of the year.

Treatment

Six years after his release, he is still receiving counselling that he says "is helping me - I can go and rant and rave".

"I feel I am all right because I have settled down. There are going to be people who might not be as lucky, who come out and their heads will be shot to bits."

Mr Rowe, who now works as a reporter and presenter for the BBC, says compensation is vital to enable people to seek treatment for mental and physical damage they may have suffered.

"Anyone who has been through a miscarriage of justice has suffered a great deal," he says.

He argues that the majority of a pay-out can be spent on psychological treatment alone, which can cost up to £25,000 a year.

"Your mind is scarred forever - I still carry that scarring from the things I saw in prison, the suffering I experienced myself."