Oliver Campbell: Hope quashed murder conviction will help others

Maggie Barradell became aware of Mr Campbell’s case while working for former Labour Ipswich MP Sandy Martin.

She said it was clear to her it had been a “flawed conviction from the start”.

“If you know Ollie you know he’s not capable of it, that’s the first thing. And when you look at the evidence there’s absolutely nothing there,” she said.

“It was a confession under duress because Ollie was told it would make things better and he could just leave and he just wanted to go home.

“He’d been there for two days, 11 interviews, it’s just unacceptable.

“Especially for somebody with the learning disability Ollie has. You wouldn’t do that to anyone, you couldn’t do that today you wouldn’t be allowed to.”

She credited Mr Campbell’s resilience and the people who have “battled for him” in helping secure the quashed conviction after so long.

She said the overturning of his conviction was “brilliant” but she was acutely aware of the life Mr Campbell has not had as a result of his time in prison and on licence since being released in 2002.