Five years behind bars, £500,000 in legal costs and a unanimous not guilty verdict – but Brian Buckle has been denied compensation twice, after his case did not meet the legal threshold for a payout.
A man who spent more than five years behind bars after being wrongly convicted has been refused compensation despite spending £500,000 proving his innocence.
Brian Buckle was convicted of historical child sex abuse in 2017 and jailed for 15 years, forcing him and his family, including his wife Elaine, into a lengthy legal battle to clear his name. Five years later, the Court of Appeal ruled his conviction was unsafe and he was immediately released from prison.
A retrial at Swansea Crown Court in 2023 saw Brian barrister, Stephen Vullo KC, present new forensic evidence and witnesses, with the jury returning a swift unanimous verdict of “not guilty”. But the five-year fight came at a huge financial cost, leaving the family £500,000 out of pocket and taking a devastating toll on Brian’s mental health.
“I suffer with PTSD, I’m on medication, I’m just always on edge,” he told the BBC. “As a family it’s been really hard, it’s the most horrendous thing I’ve ever had to go through.”
Despite being cleared, Brian has now had two compensation claims rejected. His first application was refused in 2024, prompting MP Ben Lake to secure a Westminster debate on the case. It was also raised in the House of Commons, where former justice minister Alex Davies-Jones said she hoped to restore Brian’s faith in the criminal justice system.
Following the backlash, the Ministry of Justice agreed to review the decision. But in April, officials told Brian that, despite the fresh review, he still did not meet the statutory test required for compensation. The Ministry of Justice’s letter added: “We would want to highlight that this decision does not affect the fact that Mr Buckle conviction was quashed, nor does it cast doubt on the outcome of the appeal.”
Ben Lake MP described the case as one of the clearest injustices he had encountered during his nine years as an MP. He said he was “so disappointed” by the decision, adding that he had hoped the review would result in compensation “for what the state has done to Brian”.
He told the BBC: “I’m not going to let this lie. If that means that I’m to drag ministers to the House of Commons or Westminster Hall, and table questions until they finally do the right thing, then so be it.”
The decision stems from changes to the law introduced in 2014. Previously, compensation could be awarded where new evidence showed that no reasonable jury could have convicted the claimant.
Brian’s retrial resulted in a unanimous “not guilty” verdict after jurors heard fresh witnesses and forensic evidence, circumstances that would previously have made him eligible for compensation. However, under the current law, compensation is only awarded to those who can prove they did not commit the offence.
Stephen Vullo KC said that was impossible in Brian’s case because there was no DNA or CCTV evidence capable of conclusively proving his innocence. He said: “If you were to ask me to draft a piece of legislation that would ensure that almost everybody was turned down for compensation, I’d draft something similar to this.”
A Ministry of Justice assessment on the impact into the law change at the time stated that the intended effect was to lessen the burden on taxpayers. Speaking to the BBC, the MoJ said it would consider the Law Commission review’s findings before deciding on any action in this area.
