No charges against Ward case scientists

TWO former government scientists criticised last year by the Court of Appeal over the wrongful conviction which saw Judith Ward spend 16 years in prison, will not face criminal charges, writes Heather Mills.

After a nine-month investigation by West Yokshire Police, the Crown Prosecution Service said yesterday that there was 'insufficient evidence' to charge Douglas Higgs and George Berryman, his assistant at the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment.

Last June, both men and a colleague, the late Walter Elliot, were castigated by the appeal judges who cleared Miss Ward of the 1974 IRA M62 coach bombing. They said the scientists 'concealed . . . matters which might have changed the course of the trial'.

Two years earlier, Mr Higgs and Mr Elliot had been criticised by Sir John May, the former appeal court judge, for hiding evidence from the trial of the Maguire family. They served between 4 and 14 years for terrorism before being cleared.