The family of Ryan Passey has launched a legal challenge against the Crown Prosecution Service after they ruled that "strong" new evidence is not enough to bring fresh charges against the man who stabbed him.
Ryan was 24 when he died after suffering a single stab wound to the heart during an altercation at Chicago's Nighclub in Stourbridge in August 2017.
Kobe Murray admitted the stabbing but said he had "pushed out" during an altercation in defence, not intending to use the knife. He was charged with murder but was acquitted after a trial in 2019.
Ryan's family later won a civil case against Murray in 2021 after successfully arguing he had been unlawfully killed and raised concerns about the original investigation, prompting an independent review by West Yorkshire Police.
West Midlands Police re-examined the case and discovered what Passey's family said was "strong evidence" that was "previously unavailable at the original trial". However the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ruled it did not justify new proceedings.
The family said they felt let down by the criminal justice system and would seek a judicial review of the decision.
A spokesperson for the family said: "For almost nine years, our family has lived with the unimaginable pain of losing Ryan. What has compounded that grief is the continued failure of our criminal justice system to fully confront the truth of how and why our son died.
"We have now been informed in writing that new evidence, uncovered by West Midlands Police during their reinvestigation into Ryan’s murder, is accepted as both real and reliable. Despite this, the DPP has declined to grant consent for an application to the Court of Appeal.
"While we respect the office of the DPP and the gravity of such decisions, we cannot accept the reasoning behind this outcome.
"We have now taken formal legal steps to challenge this decision. A pre-action protocol letter has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions, and legal papers outlining our claim have been served on the Administrative Court seeking permission to proceed with a judicial review."
The CPS said the DPP, Stephen Parkinson, had met with the family to explain the decision and that the bar for permitting retrials in very serious cases - also known as double jeopardy law - was "exceptionally high".
A spokesman said: "We never hesitate to pursue cases under double jeopardy legislation when the legal tests are met, and will engage fully with any further proceedings in this case".
Ryan's family have been supported by former Stourbridge MP for Stourbridge, Suzanne Webb. She added: "There is no doubt in my mind that the family have been failed by the very legal system that is there to deliver justice and protect victims’ rights.
"I am calling on the Minister for Justice, David Lammy, to intervene in the Passey case so that the truth can be told. I will be seeking an urgent meeting with his office, the family, and Claire Waxman, the Victims Commissioner.
"I have seen the family endure unimaginable grief, not only because they lost their son, but because justice was not delivered in 2018 when the case first came to trial
"The emergence of new and credible evidence should surely now open the door to justice. Ryan’s family deserve to have the truth heard at last, and the criminal justice system must now make that possible."
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