The Criminal Cases Review Commission has referred the sexual offences conviction of Mr Z to the Crown Court. Mr Z appeared at Lewes Crown Court in April 2007 charged with causing a child to watch a sexual act (pornography) contrary to section 12(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, and with sexual activity with a child contrary to section 9(1) and (2) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. He pleaded not guilty but was convicted and sentenced to a total of four years’ imprisonment and ordered to remain on the Sex Offenders’ Register indefinitely.
Mr Z tried to appeal but his application for leave to appeal was dismissed in September 2007. He applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission in 2012. During the course of its detailed review of the case, the Commission used its statutory powers to obtain information from a number of sources. During analysis of the CPS correspondence, and Social Services and Child Protection Team files, the Commission identified a body of relevant information that had not been disclosed to the defence at the time of the trial of appeal. The Commission has decided to refer the case for appeal on the basis that this new evidence, relating the credibility of a key witness, raises a real possibility that the Court of Appeal will quash the conviction. The Commission has anonymised the identity of Mr Z in order to protect the identity of other parties involved in the case. Mr Z is represented in his application to the Commission by Mr Mark Newby of QualitySolicitors Jordans, 4 Priory Place, Doncaster, DN1 1BP.
CCRC: 19th December 2017, http://bit.ly/2kPBemJ
