Mr BF

Mr BF was convicted in July 2000 of indecent assault and rape. Mr BF received a sentence of 11 years’ imprisonment.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in November 2003.

Mr BF had been convicted of sexual offences against the complainant. The review centred on new evidence, principally material found in undisclosed NSPCC files, which revealed significant discrepancies between the allegations made by the complainant at trial and accounts (potentially exculpatory) given by her as a child and recorded in the NSPCC social work files.

These files were not disclosed on the grounds that they were not in the possession of the prosecution.

Mr BF’s application to the CCRC had been commended by the Crown Prosecution Service which had concluded that the complainant’s credibility had been damaged as a result of these pre-trial inconsistencies in addition to post-trial inconsistencies and a post-trial conviction for blackmail, as well as apparently false allegations against her husband.

The CCRC referred the conviction in August 2005.

The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in December 2005.