Maxwell Confait, a male prostitute known as Michelle, was throttled and his body discovered in a burnt-out flat in Catford, South London in 1972. Three innocent boys were jailed for his murder after making confessions that medical evidence subsequently demonstrated could not have been true.
It is a grim case, largely forgotten by all except the more diligent students of criminal law; however, the then Law Society president Christina Blacklaws selected it for inclusion in a new Justice Alliance publication, Legal Aid Matters, celebrating the 70th anniversary of legal aid.
‘Public concern led Parliament, via a public inquiry and then a Royal Commission, to pass the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE 1984),’ wrote Blacklaws about the Maxwell Confait case. The pamphlet features a case for each year of the legal aid scheme and serves as a powerful reminder of how our society has been shaped
