The case against an Oxford University student who had a rape charge “hanging over his head” for two years has been dropped on the eve of his trial.<\/p>\n
Oliver Mears had been on bail since his arrest on suspicion of rape and sexual assault in July 2015, when he was 17.<\/p>\n
Mr Mears, now 19, learned prosecutors would offer no evidence after a diary which supported his case was uncovered.<\/p>\n
A judge criticised “unnecessary delays” in what the Crown Prosecution Service described as a “finely balanced” case.<\/p>\n
Chemistry scholar Mr Mears, from Horley in Surrey, was attending St Hugh’s College but suspended his studies amid investigations into the allegations.<\/p>\n
The case against him was formally thrown out during a hearing at Guildford Crown Court.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Sarah Lindop told Judge Jonathan Black the decision not to proceed was taken after reviewing the diary and digital evidence.<\/p>\n
The new material “tips the balance” in favour of Mears, she told the court.<\/p>\n
Police had been trying to secure the diary, which came into the Crown’s possession last week, Ms Lindop said.<\/p>\n
“That contains material that was not of assistance to the prosecution.”<\/p>\n
Reports had suggested Mr Mears’ case was among a number of\u00a0recent high-profile trials dropped over failure to disclose evidence<\/a>.<\/p>\n Although there were “some disclosure matters”, Ms Lindop said, “this is not a disclosure case per se”.<\/p>\n The judge criticised “unnecessary delays” in the case, which Mr Mears and the complainant had “hanging over their heads” for two years.<\/p>\n “It seems to me in a case which is as finely balanced as you say it was, there have been unnecessary delays in investigating… leading to what seems to be a completely unnecessary last-minute decision in this case.<\/p>\n “Had the investigation been carried out properly in the first instance, would not have led to this position”, he said.<\/p>\n Judge Black demanded the head of the CPS rape and sexual offences unit write to him within 28 days “with a full explanation of what went wrong”.<\/p>\n He would then decide whether any action was required “at CPS or police level”.<\/p>\n As Mr Mears’ mother left court, she said she was “delighted” at the result.<\/p>\n “Following a review of this case, prosecutors were not satisfied there was a realistic prospect of conviction,” a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n “We therefore decided to offer no evidence.”<\/p>\n A file was passed to the CPS in May last year and the decision to charge the student was made the following month.<\/p>\n Surrey Police said it “deeply regrets mistakes made in the efficacy of investigations”.<\/p>\n A spokesperson admitted there were “flaws in the initial investigation”, during which the victim’s digital media went unexamined.<\/p>\n Officers did not follow “what we would consider to be a reasonable line of enquiry”, they added,<\/p>\n The force has launched an internal review.<\/p>\n Scotland Yard recently said it would review all sex crime investigations where a suspect had been charged, following the collapse of two rape prosecutions in a week.<\/p>\n The CPS offered no evidence against both Liam Allan and Isaac Itiary after the late disclosure of evidence that could have assisted the defendants.<\/p>\n Analysis: By Danny Shaw, BBC home affairs correspondent<\/strong><\/p>\n Oliver Mears wasn’t in court to hear the “not guilty” verdicts, but he’ll no doubt be immensely relieved – and heartened to know that the judge was critical about how long it had taken to get to that point.<\/p>\n The reasons for the delay remain unclear, despite the prosecutor’s explanation in court.<\/p>\n Cases like this aren’t straightforward, but why did it take two years for charges to be brought and a further seven months for evidence to emerge that killed off an already finely-balanced prosecution?<\/p>\n This is the fourth time in four weeks that a rape case has collapsed in such circumstances and it is hard to avoid the conclusion that there is something fundamentally wrong with the system.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"