Mr BO

Mr BO was convicted in February 1998 at Northampton Crown Court of indecent assault and received a sentence of three years’ imprisonment.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in July 2005.

Following an indecent assault on a woman, police on routine patrol stopped a man running from a street but, unaware of the assault, let him go.

Learning of the assault, one officer examined police photographs of offenders and picked out Mr BO as the man the officers stopped.

At an identification parade, two officers identified Mr BO as the man they stopped but the victim did not pick him out.

Mr BO maintained that he was at home with his wife at the material time.

Investigating Mr BO’s continuing complaints about the police, a chief superintendent discovered records showing that the officer who had looked at the photographs had previously attended a “domestic” at Mr BO’s house.

This information had not been disclosed to the defence, who might have wished to argue that the officer would have recognised Mr BO had Mr BO really been the man the police stopped and questioned.

The CCRC considered that this information might have affected the jury’s decision to convict.

The CCRC referred the conviction in July 2006.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in June 2007.