Compensation is by no means a given for David Bain - Look at Rex Haig

David Bain's lead lawyer, Michael Reed QC has not surprisingly indicated that a submission to Cabinet for compensation for David Bain will be virtually as inevitable as night following day, however the issue is considerably more vexed than it might appear to some.

While Reed criticised the decision taken by the Solicitor General to re-try Bain, who spent 13 years in prison, as "stupid" the fact that the five not guilty verdicts have been returned does not ensure the Government must now write a cheque for his client.

The decision recently not to grant compensation to Rex Haig provides a comprehensive document for Bain's lawyers to pour over. In that case, Robert Fisher QC indicated that there should be no compensation notwithstanding Haig spending 10 years in jail after being wrongly convicted of murder.

The onus of proof changes in a civil claim for compensation and in Haig's case, Robert that it was more probable than not that Mr Haig participated in the murder. The onus of proving that the party seeking compensation did not commit the crime shifts to them, on the balance of probabilities. This is one area of potential difficulty in the Bain case, just as it was in Haig's case, some legal experts have said.

ENDS