The First Miscarriage of Justice

'I would have been the first miscarriage of justice... There was this spate of cases: the Birmingham Six, Guildford Four and Cardiff Three. Each one was another nail in my coffin': Tony Stock. The story of Tony Stock is astonishing: deeply disturbing it sent out ripples of disquiet when he was sentenced to ten years for robbery at Leeds Assizes in 1970. Over the next 40 years the case went to the Court of Appeal four times and has the distinction of being the first to have been referred to that court twice by the Criminal Cases Review Commission. 'The story of Tony Stock should be mandatory reading for everyone, not merely those involved with the law. It concerns the quality of our criminal justice system and its serious reluctance and unwillingness to root out injustice': Michael Mansfield QC. 'If anyone seriously believes the Court of Appeal has reformed itself since the dark days of the Birmingham Six and Bridgewater Four, they should study the unreported and amazing case of Tony Stock': Private Eye. 'One of the most outrageous miscarriages of justice of modern times': Barry Sheerman, Labour MP for Huddersfield. Tony Stock died in 2012. But the fight to clear his name goes on in the wake of historic malpractice, continuing intransigence and well-founded claims that others were responsible. Author Jon Robins uses Stock's epic campaign as a way of exploring the treatment of miscarriages of justice over the last four decades. He has been writing about law and justice for the national and specialist press for many years, including about the Stock case for The Times, Guardian and others. He is the founder of The Justice Gap (www.thejusticegap.com).