Robert and Lee Firkins have convictions quashed after being jailed in 2006 for murders of Carol and Graham Fisher. Two brothers who have spent almost 20 years in prison for a double murder at a remote Cornish garage have been cleared after their convictions were overturned and a planned retrial dropped.
Robert and Lee Firkins were jailed in 2006 for the murders of Carol and Graham Fisher, who were killed in what appeared to be a bungled burglary at their home in Perch, near Wadebridge. They maintained their innocence but were convicted after a man identified as “Witness Z” claimed he heard a confession from Robert Firkins while sharing a cell with him.
Lawyers for the brothers successfully argued there was new expert evidence that showed Z was a compulsive liar and the convictions were quashed. James Wood KC and Sarah Elliott KC, of Doughty Street Chambers, who have worked on the case since the original trial, said it highlighted the danger of cell confessions.
They said: “From the moment of these convictions, we knew the case was a gross miscarriage of justice. Based on an alleged cell confession, it illustrated the inherent dangers of this kind of evidence. “The time is now ripe for legal reform. Without independent reliable evidence supportive of the fact of the confession, cell confession evidence is so dangerous, it should always be excluded. This reform is now long overdue.”.
