Wrongly convicted pair win court battle over board and lodging bill

TWO men who served long sentences before having their convictions for murdering paperboy Carl Bridgewater quashed, yesterday won their London High Court battle over being billed for “board and lodging” whilst in jail.

In what are believed to be the first cases of their kind, a judge ruled that deductions were wrongly made from compensation being paid to Vincent Hickey, 48, and his cousin, Michael, 41. Mr Justice Maurice Kay said a decision to “discount for saved living expenses” whilst in jail was the result of a “misdirection as to the common law” and must be quashed.

The pair spent 18 years in jail after being wrongly convicted of murdering paperboy Carl. A similar victory over deductions was won by Michael O’Brien, 35, who spent 11 years in jail before being cleared on appeal of the 1987 murder of Cardiff newsagent Philip Saunders. Their legal victory came in a wider, complex review conducted by the judge following challenges to the way an independent assessor, Lord Brennan QC, had assessed various aspects of the levels of compensation due to the three men.

The judge commented: “This is a lengthy judgment in a multi-faceted case in which no party has been wholly successful or wholly unsuccessful.”

Dealing with bed and board whilst in prison, the judge said Lord Brennan had considered that such expenses should be discounted on the basis that common law principles “require that there should be no double compensation”. The assessor had awarded Michael Hickey a total under all heads of claim of €1,438,000, in respect of which interim payments of €246,000 had previously been made.

Vincent Hickey was awarded a total of €735,421, with interim payments of €414,033 having previously been made. The Hickeys were furious at his decision that the compensation for the years they spent behind bars should be reduced by about 25% to take account of the “saved living expenses” which they would otherwise have incurred as free men. Their lawyers said the decision effectively charged them €87,000 each for prison board and lodging.

Mr O’Brien, from Cardiff, South Glamorgan, said he was “absolutely livid” when his final award of €941,185.95 was reduced by €53,748 because of the money he saved in living expenses while in prison.