A date has been set for the Court of Appeal hearing of the case of Sam Hallam, the young man from Hoxton who has spent the past 7 years in prison protesting his innocence.

Aged just 17, Sam was tried and convicted of murder in a street fight in 2004.

He was sentenced to at least 12 years in prison at the Old Bailey, principally through the evidence of two witnesses who said they saw Hallam take part in the fatal attack.

Mr Hallam appealed against his conviction but the appeal was dismissed in March 2007.

Now new evidence unearthed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is central to the appeal on May 16 and 17 which will be heard by three justices, including The Rt Hon. Lady Justice Hallett, the coroner in the inquest of the 52 fatal victims of the 7/7 tube and bus bombings.

Only 3 per cent of cases investigated by the CCRC result in an appeal hearing.

Campaigner Paul May, who was also involved in the campaigns of the Birmingham Six and the Bridgewater Four, said hopes were high amongst Sam’s supporters that his “long nightmare of wrongful imprisonment” will soon end.

“This time around, we’re calling for the maximum public attention on his appeal so that justice will finally prevail,” he added.

Sam’s could be released if the conviction is quashed, or otherwise the conviction may be upheld, or a new trial could be ordered.

A play about his case, Someone to Blame - every word of which has been taken verbatim from written sources or interviews - opens at Islington’s King’s Head Theatre in Upper Street next Tuesday.