POLICE and MPs are demanding a right of appeal over jury decisions following the acquittal of a teenager accused of stabbing a teacher to death.
Michael Howard, the Home Secretary, yesterday asked to see papers concerning the case of Joseph Elliott, 19, who walked free from the Old Bailey on Tuesday after a jury found him not guilty of murdering Robert Osborne, a 40-year-old music teacher, of Streatham, south London.
Mr Elliott had admitted stabbing Mr Osborne with a Swiss army knife. The teacher, brandishing a hammer, confronted Mr Elliott after he slashed Mr Osborne's brother's car tyres. It was alleged in court that Mr Elliott was under the influence of drugs and drink when the incident took place.
When the not guilty verdict was announced, Mr Elliott punched the air. Mr Osborne's widow Diane said she no longer believed in British justice. The prosecution has no right of appeal against an acquittal by a jury.
Yesterday Mr Howard offered his 'intense sympathy' to Mrs Osborne but said nothing could be done in this case. The Home Office, currently reviewing the criminal justice system to maintain 'public confidence', said it would be looking to see if any lessons could be learnt for the future.
But the Police Federation called for immediate changes in the law that would undermine the jury's central role in the justice system. Alan Eastwood, the federation chairman, said: 'In our evidence to the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice we proposed that there should be a right of appeal by the Attorney General in cases where an acquittal appeared to be due to a serious misdirection of the jury by the judge or the verdict was perverse.
'We have never understood why a judge and jury can be held to be wrong when the accused has been convicted but are infallible when the accused has been acquitted.'
The federation said the current system was weighted against the victim and gave a poor message to the public. The Government should put the matter right when it legislated on criminal justice in the next parliamentary session, he said.
David Shaw, a senior Tory backbencher, said that the verdict had to be accepted but agreed the law must be reviewed. Terry Dicks, Conservative MP, said the balance had to be restored in favour of the victim. Geoffrey Dickens, Tory MP, called for the abolition of the jury system.