Jeffrey Gafoor is not the only British killer to allow innocent people to suffer for his crime, but he was the first to be brought to justice. It is fairly obvious that he will not be the last. Developments in forensic science, especially in DNA testing systems meant that it was likely that at least some miscarriages of justice could now be resolved. Gafoor is as despicable a criminal as one could have the misfortune to come across. Not only was he capable of a vicious murder, but he was content to allow innocent men and their families to suffer for his crime.

Just Sentencing for Real Perpetrators Allowing Miscarriages of Justice to Occur

In murder cases where a miscarriage of justice has occurred, there are no consequences for the real perpetrator who allows innocent people to suffer wrongful imprisonment for her/his crime. Nor is there any incentive to encourage such people to correct miscarriages of justice.

I propose a two pronged approach to correct this, which satisfies both the need to punish those perpetrators content to allow the innocent to suffer and reward those who try to correct miscarriages of justice. My preferred option would be to end the mandatory life system of sentencing for murder in favour of sentencing based on the circumstances of the case under consideration. The current system of tariffs cannot reflect the gravity or dire consequences of wrongful imprisonment on the innocent as even after all aggravating circumstances have been taken into account the judge can only impose a maximum of one third of the starting point and even then is obliged to deduct time for mitigating circumstances. I propose the tariff system would become redundant, thereby freeing the judge to set an appropriate sentence as other aggravating circumstances could result in little or no additional time being served for the specific aggravating factor of real perpetrators knowingly allowing an innocent person or people to suffer wrongful imprisonment