Dudley mum's legal fight over autistic son's conviction

The mother of an autistic man jailed for robbery says she is fighting to clear his name after the justice system failed to understand his disability.

Joan Martin said 23-year-old Osime Brown's autism meant he was incapable of committing the offence, and claims he was not given fair process.

She is working with lawyers, who allege institutional discrimination, to overturn a "miscarriage of justice".

The Ministry of Justice said it could not comment on individual cases.

In 2018, Mr Brown, from Dudley, was convicted alongside other parties of a 2016 robbery that involved the theft of a mobile phone. He was further convicted of attempted robbery and perverting the course of justice, all of which Ms Martin says she intends to appeal against.

Jamaica-born Mr Brown served half of a five-year prison term and faced being deported, although the plans were abandoned by the Home Office in June last year. Campaigners argued he had no support network in Jamaica and would not cope on return.

Ms Martin said that not only did her son's autism mean his convictions were unsafe, he was later unfairly treated by a prison system that did not properly take on board his condition.

"Anyone who knows about Osime's disability would know that this cannot be right," she told the BBC.

"So because of that we believe that it's a miscarriage of justice and we are in the process of having an appeal."

Mr Brown rarely leaves his home, his mother says, and is receiving counselling and support for what she describes as "severe" autism.

"He's terrified," she told the BBC, "and the moment he hears that he has to go out", she added, he starts to "panic" and "shake" and "would lock himself in the room".

Lawyers are gathering evidence as to how the courts and prison service responded to Mr Brown's needs, with damages being sought over the latter.

Ms Martin said he was moved between multiple prisons and claimed there was no care plan to manage his requirements.

Family lawyer Sarah Ricca alleged institutional discrimination, adding: "It's a multi-state failure. What they saw as disruptive behaviour, a discipline issue, was in fact a disability."

Lawyers said that the joint enterprise principle - in which guilt may be deemed by an individual's presence within a criminal group - was an option available to the jury at Mr Brown's trial, although the extent to which the jury applied it when making convictions was unclear.

However, their argument does not focus on joint enterprise, but the wider contention Mr Brown's needs meant he could not have offended.

Ms Martin said it was not enough for the government to listen to concerns that autistic people in the justice system faced a lack of understanding, it must believe it too.

"[My son] has spent his time already but his name [needs] to be cleared," she said.

"No-one is free until their name is cleared."

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]