21/7 (July) Bombers

Acted in the 21st July bombers appeal before the Court of Appeal (he was not the original trial counsel). The appeal was heard over 2 days. Stephen Vullo identified that the Police, Crown and all involved in the trial had incorrectly proceeded on the basis that senior police officers had acted in accordance with the codes of practice when denying Omar, the Warren Street bomber, access to a solicitor to allow ‘emergency safety interviews to be conducted’. In rejecting the appeal the Court had to concede that there was a breach of the codes. The Court held that the subsequent use by the Crown of the comments made in those interviews even though made in the absence of a solicitor coupled with the police administering the incorrect (new style) caution did not render the conviction unsafe. This matter is now pending appeal in the ECJ.