Getting labelled as a sex offender ‘was hell’
DEPRESSION BATTLE FOR WRONGLY CONVICTED DAD
ASHAMED,
Those are the emotions felt by a North Shields dad who was forced to sign the sex offender register for a crime he didn’t commit.
Prosecutors claimed John Burwood groped a grandmother while on a drunken night out in Tynemouth but the conviction has been quashed at Newcastle Crown Court.
Friday’s ruling means that he no longer faces the shame of being a classed as a sex offender – a status he says cost him almost everything he holds dear.
He said: “I lost my relationship over this and I’ve lost friends.
“I’ve gone into a depression due to the stigma.”
Magistrates convicted Mr Burwood of sexual assault following a trial on February 14.
The 34-year-old, who always maintained his innocence, was convicted of squeezing the woman’s breast on Front Street during last Summer’s Mouth of the Tyne Festival.
Bouncers grabbed Mr Burwood, despite his pleas of innocence.
He says he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time – but it sparked a year of hell.
“I’ve not been back out in Tynemouth, humiliated and depressed. as I just didn’t want to be seen,” he admitted.
“It was easier just to keep myself to myself but it was hard as I knew I’d not done anything wrong.”
He pleaded not guilty, but was convicted on the strength of the victim’s testimony and ordered to sign the register for five years.
However, his sentencing at North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court in March heard there was “inconsistent” evidence from witnesses.
One claimed they spotted him walking into a shop following the incident; although another said it was a taxi. There were also varying descriptions as to what he was wearing.
His solicitor, Mark Harrison, said there had even been a motion during the trial to throw it out due to the inconsistencies and that while the woman had been assaulted, it wasn’t by his client.
“I always believed that I shouldn’t have been prosecuted, and I put my appeal in the next day, and I was willing to go to the highest court to clear my name,” he said.
“I could have lost an extra £1,500 in court fees had the appeal gone against me, but I knew I was innocent.
“A judge could have even resentenced me, but I was willing to risk it all because I knew the truth.”
But now he’s been cleared, Mr Burwood – a former rigging supervisor – is looking to get back his career, saying: “I just want to get my life back on track.”
I lost my relationship over this and I’ve lost friends. I’ve gone into depression due to the stigma
John Burwood