Double Jeopardy Law in England is increasing suffering for the families of murder victims. 

Imagine your child is murdered and a person is charged. They are then, for whatever reason, acquitted at court. What if they were actually guilty? The court decision doesn't change your pain, doesn't bring your child back, doesn't change the truth but it does grant the suspect immunity from even being questioned about it again. 

The one reason for the Double Jeopardy rule is to 'protect innocent people from being harassed by the police'. Of course it is important to do that but is it right to do that at the expense of justice? 

Victims of murder cannot be protected. Their lives are gone. Families of murder victims are not protected. They have to live with pain and often injustice for the rest of their lives. 

By protecting murder suspects from possible harassment we are inflicting real and continuous pain on the loved ones of murder victims. 

Double Jeopardy Laws were introduced in England over 800 years ago. Just think how much has changed in 800 years? We even had the death penalty back then... isn't it time we made another change? Isn't it time to scrap this ridiculous, outdated law once and for all and allow officers to requestion an acquitted person when their investigation leads to it?

The Double Jeopardy laws were reformed, to some degree, in The Criminal Justice Act 2003. As a result, it is possible to gain permission to reinterview an acquitted person but it is a long, difficult and laborious task which is very rarely successful and the final decision(after going through many levels of police ranks, CPS etc) stands with the DPP.

My brother John and his friend Gary, both aged 11, were brutally attacked and left to die, bleeding and hidden under rubbish in 1980. A local man was arrested and charged with their murders but later acquitted. An inquiry took place into the handling of the case but was never made public. Our families have suffered many, many years of pain and frustration.

In 2016, I finally persuaded Merseyside Police to reinvestigate the murders of the boys. The Double Jeopardy Law is still preventing us from getting the justice that we so desperately need.

Please sign this petition and ask your friends to sign too. 

You can learn more about our case in our Facebook group - Justice for John and Gary

 Thank you for taking the time to read this.