United Kingdom ยท England and Wales, West Yorkshire
Stefan Kiszko: wrongly convicted, exonerated
Convicted of Murder and sexual assault of an 11 year old girl in 1975.
Convicted1976
Years in prison16
Exonerated18 February 1992
How the conviction was overturnedCourt of appeal quashed the conviction after evidence showed he could not have been the source of material found on the victim, Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)1,2
What went wrong
- False confession after three days of questioning without a lawyer, by a man described as having a mental age of seven
- False accusations by four teenage girls, who later admitted they had made them up
- Scientific evidence showing he was not the source of material on the victim
From conviction to exoneration
- Convicted of murder.1
- An appeal was unsuccessful.1
- The Court of Appeal quashed his murder conviction, and he was released after 16 years in prison.1,2,4
- Died of a heart attack about 18 months after his release.1,2
- Another man, Ronald Castree, was convicted of the 1975 murder by a jury at Bradford Crown Court and sentenced to life imprisonment.2,3,4
Today
Conviction quashed in February 1992, and he died about 18 months later.
Sources
- Evidence Based Justice Lab, University of Exeter, Stefan Kiszko
- Stephensons Solicitors LLP, Comment on the conviction of Ronald Castree
- West Yorkshire Police (via Wired-Gov), West Yorkshire Police statement on the Castree verdict (descriptive title, victim name omitted) (13 November 2007)
- Huddersfield Examiner, Castree seeks sentence (descriptive title, victim name omitted)