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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
"Fraud (passing bad checks, documents, casino, bankrupcy, etc.)" |
Sentence: |
1 month suspended for 2 yrs |
Years Imprisoned: |
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Year Crime: |
2006 |
Year Convicted: |
2014 |
Year Cleared: |
2015 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
United Kingdom |
County or Region of Crime: |
Northern Ireland |
City of Crime: |
Belfast |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Patrick Doak and his sister and codefendant Bridgene Kelly were wrongly convicted on March 18, 2014 of five counts of false accounting when he managed the Owenvale Court residential home in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The charges that involved less than £100, dated to September 2006. After Doak's conviction by a jury the 50-year-old was sentenced on May 30, 2014 to a one-month jail sentence that was suspended for two years. Doak appealed arguing that arguing that he was wrongly found to have acted dishonestly in dealing with new balance sheets created to correct staff errors. His appeal presented the new evidence of a residential worker who co-signed the sheets, but who did not testify at Doak's trial. The prosecution did not oppose Doak's appeal, conceding that the new evidence by the witness raised issues that could potentially have altered the jury's verdict. In December 2015 Doak's conviction was quashed as unsafe, and a retrial wasn't ordered. The appeals court judges held that the co-signatory operated to ensure the "integrity" of the ledger as well as confirming the amounts and the witnesses new evidence was relevant to Doak's defense. Doak, 52, said outside the courthouse after the ruling, "I have had my character and my career destroyed." Doak's sister Bridgene Kelly, who was a carer at the home, was also charged and tried jointly with him. After she was found guilty of false accounting and fraud, the 55-year-old Kelly said she was shocked at being convicted of charges "I am totally innocent of." She was fined £400. Kelly's appeal was pending at the time Doak's conviction was overturned. On December 21, 2015 Kelly's conviction was quashed based on the same new evidence that resulted in the quashing of her brother Patrick's conviction." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"In September 2015 Doak's conviction was quashed as unsafe, and a retrial wasn't ordered." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
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Age When Released: |
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Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"Psychic has fraud conviction quashed, By Alan Erwin (Staff writer), Belfast Telegraph, September 12, 2015" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/psychic-has-fraud-conviction-quashed-34271583.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Psychic Patrick Doak and his sister found guilty of fraud charges, By staff writer, BBC News (Northern Ireland), May 30, 2014" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27636739 |
Information Source 3: |
"Psychic wins appeal against care home fraud conviction, By Staff writer, The Irish Times, December 8, 2015" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2015/12/09/news/psychic-wins-appeal-against-care-home-fraud-conviction-347840/ |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org