Mr CZ

Mr CZ was convicted in February 2006 of two counts of sexual assault of a child under 12 and failure to comply with a Notification Requirement under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Mr CZ received a sentence of 20 months’ imprisonment.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in July 2008.

During review, the CCRC obtained new evidence concerning the credibility of the complainant.

The complainant had made allegations of sexual assault against another man which he later admitted in court had been untruthful.

There was also evidence the complainant had made allegations of sexual assault against two further men and that these allegations were investigated by the police. The Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute based on an assessment of the complainant’s credibility.

In addition, there had been non-disclosure of social services material that denied the defence an accurate picture of the complainant’s character and which may have led to other lines of enquiry.

The CCRC concluded that there was a real possibility the Court of Appeal would find this new evidence would have had a sufficiently significant effect on the complainant’s credibility as a witness of truth as to render the conviction unsafe.

The CCRC referred the conviction in March 2010.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in February 2011.