Convictions of three young men under joint enterprise referred to appeal court

The convictions of three young black men for murder after a controversial 2017 prosecution under the “joint enterprise” legal doctrine have been referred back to the court of appeal.

- David Conn

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) said yesterday that new evidence submitted on behalf of Durrell Goodall, Reano Walters and Trey Wilson, who were 20, 19 and 19 respectively when they were convicted, undermines a core of the prosecution’s case that they were members of a gang.

The CCRC is still considering a similar application from a fourth man, Nathaniel “Jay” Williams, who was 17 when he was also convicted of murder over the same incident.

The four were prosecuted after the murder in 2016 of Abdul Hafidah, 18, in the inner city Manchester area of Moss Side. One teenager, Devonte Cantril, 19, committed the fatal stabbing, but seven defendants were convicted of murder, and four of manslaughter, under the “joint enterprise” law.

Lawyers for the men argued in their 2023 application to the CCRC that the “gang narrative” advanced at the trial was based on racist stereotypes of black boys and young men, and that the convictions resulted from “institutional racism” by the police, prosecution and judge.