The public body which examines potential miscarriages of justice needs to urgently improve the quality of its work, an independent review has found.
Unnecessary avenues are being explored and resources wasted by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), according to the scathing report by HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI).
Interns within the CCRC's legal team are dealing with many casework queries and issues, and their work is then not properly checked, the report also said.
This review comes after Andrew Malkinson - who spent 17 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of rape - made a series of unsuccessful applications to the CCRC to review his conviction.
It was only on his third application that the CCRC referred it to the Court of Appeal, leading to his release from prison in 2020.
Read more: Andrew Malkinson 'insulted' at 'soft' sentence of rapist
Mr Malkinson's case is one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British legal history, and led to the CCRC's chief executive resigning after more than a decade in charge.
The bungled handling of his case also means thousands of cases are being reviewed for potential miscarriages of justice after having been previously rejected for consideration by the CCRC.
HMCPSI's review, which cost £75,000, was commissioned by the CCRC's interim chair Dame Vera Baird.
The inspectorate examined 60 cases handled by the CCRC to give an insight into how the body is handling the estimated 1,500 cases it deals with every year.
Thirty-four recommendations have been made, six marked as urgent, which the CCRC has 12 months to address.
HMCPSI Chief Inspector Anthony Rogers said there are "cultural issues" at the CCRC and case handling must be improved.
But he said it is not a failing organisation in a critical condition, and is fit for purpose and can improve.
The report noted that sound decisions were made in all 60 cases reviewed, but the "route by which they reached those recommendations was often convoluted".
It said staff had a clear "commitment to doing the right thing and leaving no stone unturned", but added: "In too many cases, this causes a lack of focus, opening unnecessary investigatory avenues that lead to drift, delays and wasted resources for the CCRC and others."
Addressing the issue of heavy reliance on interns, the report said: "Given the importance of high-quality legal support, it was surprising to hear from those we spoke to that the legal team did not implement quality assurance measures for interns' work."
In response to the report, Dame Vera said the CCRC was a "hugely important part of criminal justice" and the review "scrutinised every aspect of our process".
"All casework will be better planned and independently scrutinised from now on," she added.
The CCRC published a plan for change in response to the report, which includes strengthening the body's quality assurance framework, clarifying expectations, and ensuring its processes efficiently deliver just outcomes, according to Dame Vera.
(c) Sky News 2026: Scathing report into Criminal Cases Review Commission finds interns doing work 'not proper
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