No payout after 14 years in jail

Andrew Adams was cleared on appeal in 2007

A Newcastle man who spent 14 years in jail for a murder he says he did not commit has failed in his latest bid to win compensation.

Andrew Adams, 37, from Chapel Park, had his conviction quashed in 2007 after it was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

He was found guilty in 1993 of shooting retired science teacher Jack Royal.

On Wednesday the High Court dismissed Mr Adams's challenge to a decision he was not entitled to compensation.

Mr Justice Simon, sitting in London with Lord Justice Maurice Kay, said that his 2007 appeal succeeded on the basis that the conduct of his case by his legal representatives had been inadequate and that this had deprived him of a fair trial.

This related to their failure to discover and deploy three pieces of evidence from the unused material made available by the prosecution.

Rejecting Mr Adams case, the judges said that it had not been shown beyond a reasonable doubt that there had been a miscarriage of justice, and the evidence which was not deployed could not be described as new or newly-discovered fact.

The March 1990 shooting of 58-year-old Mr Royal, after he answered the door to his home in Laburnum Grove, Sunniside, Gateshead, was said to have been a revenge killing for the fatal stabbing of a man during a street fight in 1987.

Mr Royal had been acquitted of murder after arguing that he had acted in self-defence.