Oxford student has two-year rape case thrown out
AN OXFORD University student has become the latest to have his case dropped after two years on bail amid wider public concern about the actions of police and prosecutors.
Oliver Mears, 19, was told he was to be found not guilty following a review of evidence just days before he was due to go on trial at Guildford Crown Court.
The Crown Prosecution Service said it decided to offer no evidence against Mr Mears after reviewing evidence handed to them by Surrey Police, some of which was only received last week.
A police spokesman told The Times prosecutors decided to discontinue the trial “for a number of reasons”.
It comes at a time when the Metropolitan Police has ordered a review of all its inquiries into rape and serious sexual assault after the collapsed trials of Liam Allan, 22, and Isaac Itiary, 25.
A third case against Samson Makele, 28, was also halted at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday after his defence team unearthed key images from his mobile phone, which had not previously been made available, law firm Hodge Jones & Allen said.
Mr Mears, a chemistry student, of Horley, Surrey, was arrested weeks after his 17th birthday and accused of raping and indecently assaulting a woman in July 2015. He was charged last June. He reportedly left St Hugh’s College because of stress.
Mr Mears’s lawyers complained of a failure to disclose evidence, including social media material, which they believed may have proved his innocence.
His trial was due to start on Monday but his hearing was brought forward to yesterday morning.
Lawyers asked for the case to be dropped hours after Alison Saunders, the Director of Public Prosecutions, raised eyebrows when she said photographs and social media accounts do not necessarily need to be fully checked in rape cases.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The police obligation is to pursue all reasonable lines of inquiry. That doesn’t mean going into every single avenue of your life.”
Ms Saunders met senior police officers and barristers yesterday to discuss concerns that vital material is not being disclosed.
‘The police inquiry... doesn’t mean going into every single avenue of your life’