Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason (a) Sir John May investigated the conviction of Paul Cleeland for the murder of Terry Clarke in Stevenage in 1972 as part of his work for her Department on potential miscarriages of justice and failings in the use of forensic science to gather and present evidence in criminal cases and (b) Paul Cleeland was not informed of that investigation (i) when his case was considered by the Court of Appeal in 2002 and (ii) at any other time; and what the findings were of Sir John May's investigation in that case.

A review of any Home Office file holdings on this subject is currently being undertaken. It would not be appropriate to comment further while legal proceedings are ongoing.