I cannot imagine the mental anguish this poor young man has had to endure for the past two years following an entirely made-up and malicious accusation of rape.
Are we getting to the point where there is an assumption on the part of the police of guilt, and that in some cases (I said some - I would have put it in italics if I knew how to), evidence to the contrary is a little inconvenient? It certainly would appear so in this case.
In my case there was no evidence, full stop but here it seems that it was hidden from the defence. Is that not itself illegal? At best it's withholding evidence at worst perverting the course of justice. So the police who lied about the content of that evidence and the prosecution lawyers who failed in their legal duty to pass on evidence to the defence should surely now be prosecuted along with this awful woman.
I hope the young man can now get on with his life, but I have a feeling he may come up against some who will say 'no smoke without fire' irrespective of any subsequent outcomes.
:-(
jim, thanks, it was an experience but I had faith in the bench and that they could see the obvious even when the CPS and Police seemed oblivious to it.