Our justice system let innocent Sam down, says actor Ray WinstoneReported by Metro.co.uk on Thursday, 17 May 2012 (on May 17, 2012)
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*Actor Ray Winstone has demanded answers after an innocent man was jailed for a murder he did not commit.*
Actor and family friend Ray Winstone (left) was a long-time supporter of Sam Hallam's cause (Picture: PA)
The film and TV hardman said there had been ‘an outrageous miscarriage of justice’ in the case of Sam Hallam, who served seven years in prison for the murder of Essayas Kassahun.
Mr Hallam, 24, was released on bail on Wednesday and yesterday had his conviction quashed after judges branded it ‘unsafe’.
Speaking at the Court of Appeal, Mr Winstone said: ‘So why did an innocent man serve seven years?
‘For me it is the disgraceful unprofessional action of the police involved in this case.’
Mr Winstone – whose nephew Bobby Hopwood is Mr Hallam’s best friend – told how the conviction had caused the family ‘terrible stress’.
He also said they had been left ‘broken-hearted’ by the death of Sam’s father Terry, who hanged himself in October 2010.
Sam Hallam speaks to the press after being released on bail (Picture: Getty)
He added: ‘Sam is free but has lost seven years of his young life.
‘The family can now hopefully rebuild their lives but they can’t bring Sam’s dad back.’
Photographic evidence found on Mr Hallam’s 3G mobile phone helped clear his name by placing him miles from the crime scene at the time of the murder.
Clearing him, judges at the Court of Appeal yesterday admitted that the phone had not been investigated by police at the time of his arrest.
Mr Hallam had always fiercely denied killing 21-year-old Mr Kassahun in Clerkenwell, Greater London, in 2004.
In a statement read outside court, he said: ‘I don’t want anyone else ever to suffer what I’ve been through since October 2004.
‘The original police investigation was not done properly. They could have done things then to eliminate me, but they never.
‘Justice has long been denied but it has now finally prevailed.’
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