Floodgates fear: Hundreds of Hong Kong cases could be overturned after UK court frees two murder accused

Fears that hundreds of murderers and violent criminals in Hong Kong could have their convictions overturned on appeal have been fuelled after two men accused of murder walked free from a UK court within days of a landmark ruling outlawing the legal principle of “joint enterprise”.

The decision to free the pair accused of stabbing a man to death was made on February 22 but could not be reported until the conclusion of the trial of other co-defendants at the Old Bailey in London.

Last month, the UK’s Supreme Court found trial judges had been wrongly interpreting the law for 30 years when it came to co-defendants in murder cases who did not strike the killer blow.

The three-decade “wrong turn” in law stemmed from a 1985 Hong Kong murder case and has already prompted lawyers representing a man jailed for a 2014 murder in the city to seek to have his conviction overturned.

Legal opinion is split on what the ruling will mean for Hong Kong’s overstretched legal system but the speed of the release of the men – Khalid Hashi, 23, and 24-year-old Hamza Dodi – who were accused of murdering Ahmed Ahmed, 24, in London last August, has heightened concerns.

Some say it leaves Hong Kong’s system facing an “immense” challenge while others believe the city is not bound by the landmark ruling.