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Joint enterprise conviction referred to Court of Appeal

26 November 2025
Issue: 8141 / Categories: Legal News , Criminal
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The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has referred three murder convictions to the Court of Appeal after reviewing arguments that the prosecution relied on a stereotyped ‘gang narrative’

Durrell Goodall, Reano Walters and Trey Wilson were imprisoned in 2017 for the joint enterprise murder of Abdul Hafidah, 18, in Manchester in May 2016. While one man committed the fatal stabbing, seven men were convicted of murder and four of manslaughter.

CCRC chair Dame Vera Baird KC said: ‘This referral highlights the need for safeguards to protect defendants against the risk of unfairness from a too readily adopted gang narrative, based on inappropriate labelling.

‘It is possible that there are other cases which would benefit from guidance on this issue, where the fear may be that stereotypes can be wrongly introduced as evidence.’

The men’s solicitor, Darrell Ennis-Gayle, partner at Hodge Jones & Allen, said: ‘This is a monumental step toward correcting a profound miscarriage of justice.’

Issue: 8141 / Categories: Legal News , Criminal
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