Man jailed for eight years despite being cleared of charges wins $1.1M

A man who was mis­tak­en­ly kept in prison for eight years af­ter be­ing freed of an ar­son charge has won his ap­peal seek­ing in­creased com­pen­sa­tion.

Last week, Ap­pel­late Judges Prakash Moo­sai, Gillian Lucky and Eleanor Don­ald­son-Hon­ey­well up­held Wen­dell Beck­les' ap­peal against the $800,000 in com­pen­sa­tion he was award­ed for false im­pris­on­ment.

The ap­peal pan­el found that the High Court Mas­ter, who as­sessed the com­pen­sa­tion for Beck­les in 2018, failed to con­sid­er his men­tal suf­fer­ing and the fact that he was on­ly re­leased af­ter fil­ing le­gal ac­tion.