'HAVEN FOR HEROIN' PAIR IN BID FOR RELEASE

Court of Appeal: Charity workers jailed for allowing drug dealing in centre
for homeless fight conviction and sentences

Two charity workers who were jailed because they failed to stop heroin
dealing taking place in a homeless centre could be freed tomorrow by the
Court of Appeal.

Ruth Wyner and John Brock will be taken from prison in Suffolk to London
where they will appeal to the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, over a
conviction that has caused widespread controversy.

The jailing of the pair last December shocked the charity world and
prompted fears that headteachers and prison governors could be locked up
for not stopping drug dealing on their premises.

Wyner and Brock are being represented in court by the leading human rights
barrister Michael Mansfield QC, who is working without charge.

Supporters of the pair are hopeful that leave to appeal against conviction
will be granted - allowing the appeal to take place immediately - because
all parties have been asked to be present in court.

If leave to appeal against conviction is not granted, Wyner and Brock are
expected to go ahead with appeals against the severity of their sentences,
for which they have have already been granted leave. If the court decides
tomorrow to reduce the sentences drastically, the pair could be freed.

The families of the two former colleagues are hoping that Lord Woolf, who
is sitting with two other senior judges, will take a sympathetic view of
their case. A renowned liberal, Lord Woolf is well aware of the harshness
of prison life. He helped to expose the shocking conditions of jails in
England and Wales in a landmark report produced in response to the
Strangeways prison riot that took place in 1990.

Brock is said by friends to be deeply depressed by his circumstances and to
be using medication heavily. His wife, Louise, said last night: "He is
very, very apprehensive about the appeal, like we all are."

Wyner has said she was "traumatised and terrified" by her temporary
incarceration at Holloway prison at the beginning of her sentence.

The plight of the pair has convinced people from across society that an
injustice has been carried out. Last month, in a letter to The Daily
Telegraph, the film director Michael Winner and the folk singer Joan Baez
joined the actress Julie Christie, the musician Brian Eno, the right-wing
commentator Roger Scruton and the playwright Sir Tom Stoppard in calling
for the convictions to be quashed.

Wyner and Brock were arrested in July 1998 after police mounted an
undercover operation at their Wintercomfort drop-in centre for the homeless
in Cambridge. Two officers, calling themselves "Ed" and "Swampy", dressed
up as homeless people and secretly filmed drug dealing.

At the trial last November, Judge Jonathan Haworth said Wyner and Brock had
created a "haven for heroin dealers". The court had been told that they
refused to provide police with the names of people banned from the centre
for using or dealing drugs.

Wyner was sentenced to five years' imprisonment and Brock to four. They are
in separate wings of HMP Highpoint, near Bury St Edmunds.