INNOCENT : TRIAL & ERROR

Aim

To fund the development of a feature-doc centring victims of miscarriages of justice, challenging the flawed systems that keep them trapped

A documentary examining the multiple layers of injustice committed by the state, told through the ‘stranger-than-fiction’ stories of victims of miscarriage of justice.

With exclusive access to the Miscarriage of Justice Organisation (MOJO), a unique victim support agency based in Glasgow, twice BAFTA Scotland winning director Hannah Currie embarks on her first feature film, delving into the lives of society’s most disenfranchised community: those found guilty of a crime they did not commit. 

Primarily affecting people from low income backgrounds, wrongful convictions arise from a shocking inequality of resources between prosecution and defence, with the legal aid system in deep crisis. Serious miscarriages of justice are further compounded by an inherently flawed appeals system, which fails to acknowledge or correct its mistakes in the interest of upholding its reputation, and public trust, in the illusion of justice. 

This results in victims who not only endure prison sentences serving someone else’s time, but who are released back into society damaged, destroyed and uncompensated. Trapped in a cycle of trauma and stigma that continues for the rest of their lives, they deteriorate. No matter how many times they try to set the record straight, nobody is listening. They have been labelled criminals, sinking to the lowest echelons of society, unable to gain employment or form meaningful relationships. They have exhausted all of their options legally to clear their name. Their friends and family may believe them, but they want them to move on; get over it. They can’t. They grow older knowing that this falsehood will likely be their legacy. 

Now, this pioneering documentary hands power back to those whose stories have been warped by a malicious system, and gives them the opportunity to re-tell their stories in the pursuit of truth. As they re-create scenes from their past, the audience are invited to question what is real as we play with the concept of reality: in doing so, we reveal how assumptions can be formed by a jury and how truth can be manipulated. By the end of the film, we hope to have swayed public opinion back in our ccontributors' favour, bringing them out of the cold into the light - and activating a renewed fight for justice.

Why this film is urgent 

Miscarriages of justice are more common than you might think, and none of us are immune. It could happen to you or your family. 

MOJO receive 300 applications a year and typically take on just ten cases, where they can be sure of a stateable claim to factual innocence that has not already been exhausted by the restrictive appeals process. MOJO are the ‘last chance saloon’ for their clients. And even then, they acknowledge that their chances of achieving exoneration are remote, due to the system’s unwillingness to acknowledge and correct its most serious mistakes. 

Miscarriages of justice do not just affect the individual wrongly convicted of crime, and by default their families: they come at huge cost to the public purse and public safety. The Crown prosecutes people in the public’s name, with public money. The Post Office Scandal has so far cost the public over £700m in compensation, and it demonstrates the unwillingness of the state to admit their mistakes on a mass scale: so one person fighting the system has very little chance of success. Public safety is also severely threatened: with the wrong person imprisoned, the true perpetrators of crime walk free amongst us. 

Film has the power to raise awareness of miscarriages of justice, to challenge and reform the system. 

In recent years, explosive cases have been brought to light by film and television portrayals: ITV’s dramatization of the Post Office Scandal averaged 13.5 million viewers and forced a change in the law, while the BBC documentary ‘The Wrong Man: 17 Years Behind Bars’ told the story of Andrew Malkinson, whose case directly led to the resignation of the Chief Exec of the Criminal Cases Review Commission. 

On release in the UK right now is the Scottish documentary 'Everybody to Kenmure Street' which premiered at Sundance Film Festival and won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Civil Resistance.  It's having a huge success in cinemas inspiring audiences, creating impact through storytelling and connection,  amplifying its message of civil resistance and community solidarity.  It serves as a record of a successful, citizen-led action against a government-backed immigration crackdown. 

With support from MOJO and bolstered by factual evidence - but led by the stories of those affected by miscarriage of justice - it is our ambition that our film and the associated impact campaign will create enough shockwaves to reform the system and open up further chances for our contributors’ exoneration.  

Why we have launched a crowdfunder 

The dire state of independent documentary funding was recently laid out in this report by the Documentary Film Council. Whilst we rigorously pursue competitive public funding for the production of the documentary, we are appealing to those who support this cause to help us raise the initial funds to create a proof of concept and teaser tape that will enable us to take the film to market and expediate our chances of full funding.  We urgently want to draw attention to this issue and campaign for reform of a broken system. 

The Team

Hannah Currie is a twice BAFTA-winning and Grierson- and RTS-nominated filmmaker from Glasgow embarking on her first feature project. Hannah’s past work includes films about poverty, mental health and suicide, racism, sexual assault, and LGBTQIA+ rights. Her most recent television project, 'Jailed: Women in Prison' about women in custody saw her shooting and directing inside HMP Grampian and HMP Stirling, and the finished series of documentary programmes attracted over a million views on their first week on iPlayer. Hannah spent many years working for a mental health charity and has completed several Film in Mind sessions, shaping her sensitive and trauma-informed approach. Hannah is a passionate advocate for equality and diversity within the industry: she founded Jumpsuit Films to address gender inequality in the industry, and she directed Working Differently for Screen Scotland, based on promoting better understanding of neurodivergence in the film and television industries.

Sandra Leeming is a queer producer who develops and produces feature documentaries through their Glasgow-based company Sandslate Films. Recent productions include 'Silent Men' (dir Duncan Cowles) which premiered at Sheffield Doc Fest 2024 and was awarded Special Mention by the Jury, and 'Doppelgangers x3' (dir Nelly Ben Hayoun Stepanian) which premiered SXSW March 2024. They have several projects in development, and two which are currently in post-production. Sandra has twenty years of industry experience including ten years at Dartmouth Films (London) as Head of Production and Line Producer. Before that, they managed hundreds of hours of factual content programmes at Fulcrum TV for all the main UK and International broadcasters. Sandra is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Scottish Queer International Film Festival.

Christopher Hird is a leading figure in UK independent documentary making. He is the founder of Dartmouth Films, which has pioneered new ways of funding, producing and distributing documentaries in the UK, as well as promoting the work of new and emerging filmmakers. Starting with Black Gold (2006) and  The End of the Line (2009) he has executive produced a wide range of documentaries which aim to have in impact, including  The Divide (2015), The Dirty War on the NHS (2019), Someone’s Daughter, Someone’s Son (2024)  and Power Station (2025).  He is a former chair of the Sheffield International Documentary Festival, was the founding chair of doc society and is a patron of the Grierson Trust.  

Thomas Hogben is a Scottish-based cinematographer and filmmaker who first gained recognition through SDI’s Bridging the Gap scheme with his film Teeth which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, featured at Aesthetica Film Festival, and won Best Documentary at the Scottish Short Film Festival. His other credits include Director of Photography for the BFI-funded short documentary Outlying and shooting his debut feature The Artist & The Wall of Death, directed by Maurice O’Brien, funded by Screen Scotland and premiering at Glasgow Film Festival. Thomas is currently Director of Photography on Nucleus (2027), a feature documentary directed by James Thomson, which moves beyond conventional documentary to explore the human legacy of over 2,000 nuclear tests. He has also completed production on Ephemeral, exploring the land art community, and is in production of She Sings Of Murder (2026), supported by Journeyman Pictures and Screen Ireland respectively. Hannah and Thomas worked together on the RTS-nominated BBC Documentary Lauren Mayberry: I Change Shapes.

The Miscarriage of Justice Organisation is a unique victim support agency based in Glasgow, dedicated to assisting innocent people in prison and following their release. The organisation was founded in 2001 by the late Paddy Joe Hill, one of the six men wrongfully convicted in 1975 for the Birmingham pub bombings. It is now led by CEO Scott Jenkins and a board of trustees, and is partly staffed by trainee student lawyers and social workers whom MOJO hope to equip with the training to avoid and prevent the mistakes that underlie so many of today’s miscarriages of justice.  

Patrick Maguire is an Irish born, London based artist, author and MOJO trustee who was arrested aged 13 and wrongfully convicted along with six members of his family of making IRA bombs in the 1970s. He began drawing rudimentary cartoons in prison letters to his parents (each housed in separate jails) and gradually became more skilled at drawing throughout his time in prison. After release, like many victims of miscarriage of justice, he was plighted by PTSD, and lost his connection with art – until a stint in the Priory for mental health issues when he began creating again prolifically. He has since built up an immense portfolio of paintings and drawings and held a string of exhibitions. Though the ‘Maguire Seven’ had their convictions quashed in 1991, the reality is that many innocent people remain wrongly convicted, and Patrick is lending his art to this cause to help their plight.  

Pledge for Rewards

Supporters of our film can pledge for rewards featuring a historic piece of artwork by Patrick Maguire. 'Paddy' is an image of a jailbird drawn by a young Patrick Maguire in prison in 1978, and sent in a letter to his dad, who was housed in a separate prison.  Check out our rewards featuring Patrick's artwork including tees, totes, mugs, limited prints and more!  

Please help us amplify the voices of those who have been labelled guilty of a crime they did not commit and offer them one last chance to be exonerated. 

Please join our campaign, give as much as you can afford and share this crowdfunder widely to help get this film into production. 

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 26th June 2026 at 6:00pm