The Injustice of the Joint Enterprise Doctrine: Charlotte Henry

Alex Henry is in prison for murder, serving a mandatory 19 year sentence. He was not the killer, the only one who had a knife, who received a 22 year sentence. The killer stabbed two people, one of whom died. Alex was with the group of boys involved in the fight. He was 19 at the time and with a history of antisocial behaviour and a series of expulsions from school. Following his sentence he was diagnosed, by both Professor Baron Cohen and another leading expert, with autism. In their opinions, his autism explained his childhood conduct difficulties and meant that he could not have met the criteria relied on by the court to find him guilty. However, the Court of Appeal has disregarded this expert evidence and the Criminal Cases Review Commission has refused to make a referral to the Supreme Court. The basis for his conviction, the doctrine of 'parasitical accessorial liability', has been abolished but this makes no difference for those already convicted, many of whom, like Alex, remain in prison.