The Cambridge Two Campaign official site

Royal Court of Appeal verdict

Thursday 21st December 2000

The Royal Court of Appeal has delivered its verdict. The judges have upheld the convictions against the Cambridge Two. Ruth and John will not however be returning to prison.

On Thursday 21st December 2000 at the Royal Courts of Justice in The Strand, Ruth Wyner and John Brock, the two Cambridge charity workers convicted of 'knowingly' allowing drugs to be traded at their day centre for the homeless, were told that their convictions had not been overturned. The three appeal court judges decided to substantially reduce their sentences which means that Ruth and John will not be returning to prison, however their names have not been cleared.

After spending the best part of their working lives helping the homeless and the downtrodden Ruth Wyner and John Brock were convicted under section 8 of the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act, and sent to prison last December for five and four years respectively. The judge himself stressed that they had not been involved in the deals themselves, or benefited from them in any way - in fact, they had promoted a strong anti-drugs policy. They were released on bail on July 11th 2000.

At the appeal against their convictions on December 1st 2000, Lord Chief Justice Rose, presiding, confirmed that the sentences imposed on the pair were "far too long" and said that the appeal court would need time to consider their Verdict on the convictions, which will have wide reaching implications for charity workers around the country, and could lead to the rewriting of Section 8 of the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act.

The prosecution counsel William Clegg QC said that if the convictions were quashed the Crown would not ask for a retrial.

Click here to read Ruth Wyner's comments following the announcement of the verdict

Click here to read about the history of the campaign