A CAMPAIGN to secure compensation for Brian Buckle – a man who spent over five years in prison before being cleared of all charges – has now gained more than 39,000 signatures.

Mr Buckle was convicted in 2017 of 16 counts of rape and sexual assault, but in 2022 the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction after new evidence emerged. At a retrial, it took a jury less than an hour to find him not guilty on all counts.

Despite this, the Ministry of Justice has refused to award Mr Buckle compensation for the time he spent in prison, citing a requirement to “prove innocence beyond reasonable doubt” – a standard which critics say is almost impossible to meet.

The petition, hosted on Change.org and backed by his legal team and supporters, has been signed by more than 39,000 people. Although widely shared and supported, the petition is not on the official UK Parliament petitions site and therefore cannot by itself trigger a debate in the House of Commons.

However, Mr Buckle’s case has already been raised in Parliament. On March 19, 2025, Ceredigion MP Ben Lake used a Westminster Hall debate on miscarriage of justice compensation to highlight the case, describing the situation as “a moral and legal failure”.

Mr Lake told fellow MPs: “Brian Buckle was imprisoned for over five years for crimes he did not commit. He lost his liberty, his livelihood, and missed key moments in his daughter’s life. He was cleared of all charges, and yet the Ministry of Justice says he has not proven his innocence enough to be compensated.”

Mr Buckle’s barrister, Stephen Vullo KC, said the current system is broken: “The bar is so high that hardly anyone can jump it. If the Court of Appeal quashes a conviction and a jury later finds a person not guilty on all counts, what more should be required?”

The Ministry of Justice acknowledged Mr Buckle’s acquittal, but insisted that his application did not meet the strict criteria under Section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. In a letter, the Ministry stated: “You are presumed to be and remain innocent of the charges brought against you. However, we do not consider that you have demonstrated this innocence beyond reasonable doubt.”

Mr Buckle said the process has left him feeling re-traumatised: “I’m not asking for millions. I just want the injustice I suffered to be acknowledged. The compensation wouldn’t even cover my lost wages, but it would help me start to rebuild my life.”

His family raised and spent significant funds to secure the evidence needed to clear his name – including selling his father-in-law’s house to pay for legal fees and investigations. Tragically, his father-in-law died before the retrial.

Campaigners are now calling for the law to be changed so that those who are cleared of serious crimes following a wrongful conviction are entitled to automatic compensation.

The Herald understands that while Mr Buckle’s Change.org petition cannot trigger a debate in Parliament, there remains the possibility that further political pressure could result in formal policy review or a government rethink.