Police and CPS apologise to man wrongly accused of rape after withholding texts
POLICE and the Crown Prosecution Service have apologised to a student they kept on bail for two years on rape charges.
Liam Allan discusses being falsely accused of rape
Greenwich University student Liam Allan, 22, was accused of rape and sexual assault.
The police withheld text messages sent by his accuser that would have cleared Mr Allen.
A joint review by the Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service into Mr Allan's case said: "There is no evidence that the phone download was withheld deliberately by the OIC (officer in the case) or CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) prosecutors.
"The disclosure problems in this case were caused by a combination of error, lack of challenge, and lack of knowledge."
Liam Allan was acquitted of all charges after being accused of rape and sexual assault
Claire and I met Mr Allan yesterday afternoon where he received a personal apology from us both and I was really pleased to have that opportunity to meet him face-to-face
Commander Richard Smith of the Metropolitan Police and Claire Lindley, Chief Crown Prosecutor for London South spoke to reporters at Scotland Yard after a review into the case.
Mr Smith said: "Claire and I met Mr Allan yesterday afternoon where he received a personal apology from us both and I was really pleased to have that opportunity to meet him face-to-face, allow him to read the report and apologise for the errors that were made."
The prosecution Counsel in the case, Jerry Hayes the former Tory MP and leading political columnist, said that he went to the OIC after the trial had begun and found a disk of the woman's messages.
Mr Hayes said the policeman told him it was “not disclosable” as it contained “very personal matters”.
Mr Allan is suing the Metropolitan Police and CPS for damages
But when the lawyer saw the texts he knew immediately that they “blew the case out of the water’”
Mr Hayes said after the collapse of the case: “If they had not been seen this boy faced 12 years in prison and on the sex offenders' register for life with little chance of appeal. This was a massive massive miscarriage of justice, which thank heavens was avoided.”
Mr Allan is suing the Metropolitan Police and CPS for damages.