A brother’s 36-year fight against one of New Zealand’s worst miscarriages of justice

A family photograph of the Hall siblings: From left, Alan, Robert, Greg, Andrea, Gary and Geoff. In 1986, Alan Hall was convicted of killing Auckland man Arthur Easton but had his conviction quashed 36 years later. Photograph: Supplied by family

The day Alan Hall was convicted of murdering a man in an Auckland home, Hall’s family got into their car and drove away from the court in complete silence.

“It was traumatic,” Geoff Hall, Alan’s younger brother says, speaking to the Guardian 36 years after the event. “It was like white shock – the blood has left your body, you have tunnel vision, everything blurs around you.”