Vincent and Michael Hickey must pay the "living expenses" they incurred in prison from their compensation, the court of appeal ruled yesterday.

Wrongly jailed cousins must pay 'expenses'

Extract:

"Two men who spent more than 12 years in jail for a murder they did not commit must pay the "living expenses" they incurred in prison from their compensation, the court of appeal ruled yesterday.

By a four-one majority, five law lords upheld the deduction from the Home Office compensation awarded to cousins Vincent and Michael Hickey for their wrongful conviction in 1979 for the murder of newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater.

In the first case of its kind to go to court, the pair argued that it was wrong in principle to charge what was, in effect, board and lodging during their unjustified incarceration. But the ruling against them by the House of Lords enshrines in law the practice by Home Office-appointed independent assessors of deducting living expenses from the part of the award covering lost earnings. The Hickeys' solicitor, Susie Labinjoh of Hodge, Jones & Allen, said they were "devastated". "To deduct saved living expenses from their compensation offends against justice. We had all hoped their lordships would right this wrong.""

This seems very unjust to me...)o: