Rape trial falls apart as police hold back proof of innocence

A JUDGE has called for an inquiry after the trial of a student accused of rape collapsed – following police failures.

Last night it was revealed that officers failed to hand over evidence proving his innocence.

Liam Allan, 22, was on bail for almost two years and spent three days at Croydon Crown Court in the dock before his trial was halted yesterday.

The judge called for an inquiry at the ‘very highest level’ of the Crown Prosecution Service and a review of disclosure of evidence by the Metropolitan Police Service.

He advised of ‘serious miscarriages of justice’ when he heard that documents were not always sent to defence lawyers in order to keep costs at a minimum.

Mr Allan, a criminology undergraduate at Greenwich University, was accused of six counts of rape and six sexual assaults against a woman who claimed she did not enjoy sex.

If found guilty, the 22-yearold was told he would be jailed for at least ten years.

The young man, however, claimed the sexual intercourse had been consensual.

He said the woman involved had acted maliciously because he was starting university and would not see her again.

Mr Allan’s lawyers were denied access to the woman’s telephone records after police insisted there was nothing of interest for the defence or prosecution.

When a new prosecution barrister took over the case – the day before the trail started – he demanded police hand over the phone logs.

A computer disk containing copies of 40,000 messages were taken from the handset, revealing that the woman had continuously pestered the undergraduate for ‘casual sex’.

She also told her friends she enjoyed sex with him and even spoke about her fantasies of having violent sex and being raped by him. Prosecuting barrister Jerry Hayes said: ‘I would like to apologise to Liam Allan.

‘There was a terrible failure in disclosure which was inexcusable’.

Mr Hayes, a former Tory MP, added: ‘There could have been a very serious miscarriage of justice, which could have led to a very significant period of imprisonment and life on the sex offenders register. It appears the [police] officer in the case has not reviewed the disc, which is quite appalling.’

Mr Allan told The Times outside of court: ‘I can’t explain the mental torture of the past two years.

‘I feel betrayed by the system which I had believed would do the right thing – the system I want to work in.’

His mother Lorraine Allan, 46, told the paper: ‘In the current climate, in these sorts of cases, you are guilty until you can prove you are innocent.’

It comes after a string of rape cases were found to have fallen apart.

‘Betrayed by the system’