The Court Battle Of A Dudley Mother Over Her Autistic Son's Conviction

The mother of an autistic man imprisoned for robbery claims she is seeking to clean his name after the legal system failed to recognize his handicap.

Joan Martin says that Osime Brown, 23, was unable to conduct the crime due to his autism, and that he was not given a fair trial.

She's working with lawyers to challenge a "miscarriage of justice" alleging institutional prejudice.

The Ministry of Justice stated that it was unable to comment on specific cases.

Mr Brown, from Dudley, was convicted in 2018 together with other defendants of a 2016 robbery including the theft of a cellphone. He was also found guilty of attempted robbery and perverting the course of justice, which Ms Martin was not aware of.

Jamaica-born Mr Brown spent half of a five-year sentence and risked deportation, but the Home Office dropped the plans in June of last year. Campaigners said that he lacked a support network in Jamaica and would struggle to reintegrate if he returned.

Ms Martin claimed that her son's autism made his convictions dangerous, and that he was thereafter treated unfairly by a jail system that did not properly account for his disability.

"Anyone who is familiar with Osime's condition realizes that this cannot be right," 

"As a result, we believe it was a miscarriage of justice, and we are already pursuing an appeal."