Disclosure failings criticised as man is cleared of rape

FAILURES in disclosure are resulting in the criminal justice system “playing Russian roulette with defendants’ lives and liberties”, a lawyer said after a man was cleared of rape following the discovery of 30,000 Facebook messages.

The young man, named only as Cameron, was charged with rape and six counts of sex with a girl under the age of 16 whom he had met on Facebook. But yesterday the charges were thrown out at Taunton Crown Court after new evidence came to light.

Ian Kelsey, Cameron’s barrister, blamed cuts for disclosure failures. “I believe our criminal justice system is in a state of utter collapse,” he told Channel 4 News. He said the system played “Russian roulette” with people’s lives, as defendants were going to court “not knowing whether the matter has been robustly investigated or not”.