Who Am I?

I am an innocent, professional, family man who has had his life and prospects of a career ruined by a failure of the justice system. 

I was found not guilty by a jury at Court and importantly it is clear that it was not a technicality. There was no evidence to link me to this hideous crime - forensic or otherwise. In fact, there was forensic evidence of another unknown male and there were discrepancies and inconsistencies in the prosecution witnesses’ evidence.

The case involves consideration of whether an acquittal should be disclosed on an enhanced criminal record certificate and whether the disclosure breaches the right to privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 

Furthermore the natural law says, you are innocent until you are proven guilty (presumption of innocence). Please support my legal challenge to put a halt to the terrible reputational damage that has been done and allow me to carry on my life as an innocent man.

Case Background

I was acquitted after a trial, where I was charged of rape of a 17 year old woman. When I was charged I was told by charging officer that it was my word against her word, where my defence was that I didn’t have sexual contact with the complainant. Subsequently, I was found not guilty unanimously by jury at crown court and case was discharged.

Information about this case was disclosed on an enhanced criminal record certificate relating to an employment application to be a teacher, I appealed against the inclusion of this information via internal procedures with the Greater Manchester Police Force. This was refused. A second certificate was then applied for in respect of a taxi driver application. The same information was provided with no further consultation being made both occasions.

I asked the court to declare that my human rights were being breached by the continued disclosure of the allegation concerning a serious offence each time an application for an Enhanced Criminal Records Certificate was made. This was because it affected my ability to pursue certain types of employment despite the fact I was found not guilty of the allegations following trial.

The High Court rejected the claim for judicial review and I appealed to the Court of Appeal in 2016. This appeal was refused and I went on to appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court granted permission to appeal on the right to privacy, but declined to allow permission on a point concerning the presumption of innocence.

The court heard the case in November 2017, and then recalled the parties for further submissions in April 2018. Judgment has been given in July dismissing the appeal, but raising concerns about the lack of guidance in respect of acquittal disclosure and information on how such information is used.

My legal team said: “This was an important case which examined whether an acquittal should be disclosed on an enhanced criminal records check. My client is very disappointed at the dismissal of his appeal and findings that disclosure of the information was proportionate.

“He has continuously struggled to pursue his chosen career, since the allegation of rape was made against him and he was found not guilty following trial, due to the continued disclosure.

“The Supreme Court only granted permission to appeal in respect of the right to privacy and did not consider the presumption of innocence. We have decided to make an application to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of both these issues.

“Whilst the court has dismissed this appeal, concerns were raised in respect of the disclosure of acquittal information when there is no guidance or specific statistics on this issue.

“Their Lordships recognised “reports which emphasise the importance of not excluding the convicted from consideration for employment… say nothing about the acquitted, who surely deserve greater protection from unfair stigmatisation”.

How much am I raising and why? 

Due to my financial circumstances, we urgently need £5k for the preparation of this case to launch at European Court of Human Rights.

If we have been given permission then we also need a further £10-13k for the next phase including final hearing.

I believe it is in the public interest that there are a number of people, who having disclosure issues where they have been acquitted have been unable to find justice, due to the faults with the current systems where there has been no proper guidance , but having so will definitely be beneficial.

Like in my case where justice was done in the acquittal process, that same justice system has really hindered their employment prospects and ability to move on with life.

I personally appreciate your cooperation in this matter, which is why I have chosen crowdjustice .com to raise funding to take this case onward to European Court of Human Rights to find justice. 

Thankyou for your support