City saviours bring hope

Two City law firms acting in a pro bono capacity have helped to save the lives of two Caribbean death row prisoners.

Nabarro Nathanson civil litigation specialist George Brown helped persuade the UK Privy Council to overturn a death sentence imposed on a Trinidad man convicted of murder.

And in a separate case Simmons & Simmons lawyer Andrea Dahlberg helped persuade the United Nations Human Rights Committee that the rights of a Jamaican death row prisoner were being violated.

Andrew Moses, of Trinidad, had been imprisoned after the murder of drug dealer Lionel Harewood in 1985. Although Moses did not commit the murder, under the concept of "felonious murder" the jury only had to find that he intended to commit a felony to bring a guilty verdict. He was sentenced to death in 1989.

The Privy Council has now overturned the conviction and Moses is expected to be released as soon as the order is transmitted to the Trinidad authorities.

Simmons & Simmons has been representing Paul Anthony Kelly, of Jamaica, for six-and-a-half years. The UN Human Rights Committee has agreed that Kelly's rights were violated and has recommended his immediate release.

The Jamaican government has 90 days to respond.