Mr H

Mr H was convicted in July 2008 of sexual assault and received a community order of 240 hours’ unpaid work, a compensation order of £250, and was put on the sex offenders’ register.

In April 2008, a woman was sexually assaulted by a man in Wakefield town centre. She was able to identify her attacker to nearby police officers, who immediately arrested the man.

This man gave Mr H’s name, date of birth and address to the police and was later released on bail. Several months later, Mr H attended a trial at Wakefield Magistrates’ Court and was convicted.

Mr H applied to the CCRC in September 2020, stating that he was not the man who had sexually assaulted the victim. After an investigation, the CCRC discovered that the fingerprints taken from the man identified and arrested at the scene did not match those of Mr H.

The police had discovered this in 2009 and concluded that Mr H was not responsible for the crime. Attempts made to resolve this situation at that time were unsuccessful and Mr H remained convicted of the offence.

Following review, the CCRC concluded that as there was no evidence to link Mr H to the offence and the police accepted that he was not to blame, there was a real possibility that an appeal in the Crown Court would succeed.

The CCRC referred the conviction in December 2021.

The Crown Court quashed the conviction in April 2022.