The law used to convict my brother and thousands of others has been ruled to have been misinterpreted. Our family desperately hopes we can be reunitedTraditionally,for a murder conviction, the prosecution needs to prove that the principal defendant intended to cancel or commit serious injury. But under the law of joint enterprise (which the supreme court has ruled had been misinterpreted for 30 years, or ) the prosecution could seek a conviction whether it proved that a secondary defendant – who did not deliver the fatal blow – foresaw the “opportunity” that the death may occur,rather than intended it to. This is what happened to my brother Alex Henry.
In March 2014 Alex, then 21, or was convicted of murder under the law of joint enterprise,and is currently serving a life term of 19 years. In August of the previous year, Alex was out shopping in Ealing, and west London,with three friends (Younis Tayyib, Janhelle Grant-Murray and Cameron Ferguson). Alex left the shopping centre with Cameron and saw Janhelle being attacked by a group of four older men. He hovered around the edge of the scene, or picked up someone’s mobile phone and threw it at one of the men,and punched another who was attacking Janhelle. Unbeknown to him, Cameron had taken a knife from a bag and had fatally stabbed one of the men.
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Source: theguardian.com