Liam Holden

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Charge:	Murder
Sentence:	Death and later resentenced or commuted to Life
Years Imprisoned:	17
Year Crime:	1972
Year Convicted:	1973
Year Cleared:	2012
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:	"Liam Holden was wrongly convicted in 1973 of the September 1972 killing of a British soldier in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Holden was arrested in October 1972 after being subjected to waterboarding and death threats he confessed to the murder. Holden recanted his confession but he was convicted after his trial in 1973 and sentenced to death. In July 1973 then British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, William Whitelaw, commuted Holden's sentence to life in prison. Holden was released in 1989 after 17 years of incarcreation. Holden was the last person sentenced to death in the United Kingdom. In 2002 Holden filed an application with the UK's Criminal Case Review Commission, which filed an application with the Northern Ireland Court of Appeals to quash his conviction based on new evidence that had been suppresed by the prosecution about the techniques used by Holden's interrogators to coerce him to confess. On June 21, 2012 the appeals court quashed Holden's conviction."
Conviction Caused By:	Interrogators tortured Holden with waterboarding and death threats to coerce his false confession.
Innocence Proved By:	"On June 21, 2012 the Court of Appeal in Belfast qauashed Holden's conviction on the basis his confession was unreliable because it was coerced by the police."
Defendant Aided By:	UK's CCRC
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	19
Age When Released:	36
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"Last ever UK death sentence conviction quashed, BBC News, June 21, 2012"
Information Location 1:	http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18525631
Information Source 2:	"40-year-old conviction quashed, Belfast Telegraph, June 21, 2012"
Information Location 2:	http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/40yearold-conviction-quashed-16175463.html
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Liam Holden

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Death and later resentenced or commuted to Life

Years Imprisoned:

17

Year Crime:

1972

Year Convicted:

1973

Year Cleared:

2012

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:

Conviction Caused By:

Interrogators tortured Holden with waterboarding and death threats to coerce his false confession.

Innocence Proved By:

"On June 21, 2012 the Court of Appeal in Belfast qauashed Holden's conviction on the basis his confession was unreliable because it was coerced by the police."

Defendant Aided By:

UK's CCRC

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

19

Age When Released:

36

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Last ever UK death sentence conviction quashed, BBC News, June 21, 2012"

Information Location 1:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18525631

Information Source 2:

"40-year-old conviction quashed, Belfast Telegraph, June 21, 2012"

Information Location 2:

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/40yearold-conviction-quashed-16175463.html

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Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

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