Thousands of dead men are to receive posthumous pardons for convictions of offences which are no longer criminal e.g. consensual homosexual activity before it was decriminalised.
The move follows the posthumous pardon which was granted to the WWII codebreaker Alan Turing.
Parliament will also debate a private members’ Bill regarding the treatment of living persons: they can currently have such convictions disregarded under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and the proposed new law will also grant them a statutory pardon; the private Bill would grant them an automatic pardon too without the need to apply for a ‘disregard’.
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Alex Bailin QC and John Halford (Bindmans LLP) advised interested and affected parties on the issues and also helped draw attention to Turing’s injustice.