Mr EP

Mr EP pleaded not guilty in September 2009 to one count of indecent assault in relation to one woman and two counts of rape in relation to another woman.

Mr EP was acquitted of the indecent assault and of one count of rape, but convicted of the other count of rape. He was sentenced to a total of five years’ imprisonment.

In 2010 Mr EP applied for leave to appeal but leave was refused. He applied to the CCRC in April of that year.

Having conducted an extensive investigation the CCRC decided to refer Mr EP’s conviction to the Court of Appeal.

The referral was made on the basis of new evidence that Mr EP should have been entitled to the usual “good character” direction when in fact that direction was withheld during his trial in circumstances where such a direction may have caused the jury to reach a different conclusion.

The CCRC was satisfied that this was a case where Mr EP’s credibility was central. It followed that any entitlement to a good character direction (whether in a full or modified form) would have assisted his defence and may have been capable of influencing the jury’s verdict.

The CCRC concluded that this raised a real possibility the Court of Appeal would consider the conviction to be unsafe and quash it.

The CCRC referred the conviction in October 2014.

The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in July 2015.