Disclosure failures result in 'Russian roulette with defendants' lives' says lawyer as young 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 has said after a man was cleared of rape following the discovery of 30,000 Facebook messages.

The young man, who has been named only as Cameron, was charged with rape and six counts of sex with a girl under the age of 16, who he had met on Facebook.

But the charges against him were thrown out at Taunton Crown Court after new social media evidence came to light.

Cameron, whose full name is not being used to protect the identity of his accuser, lost his job with a blue chip company as a result of the allegations, which were first investigated nearly three years ago when he was 19 years old.

Last year a review into rape and sex assault cases was ordered when it emerged that detectives had failed to disclose important evidence from digital devices like mobile phones, tablets and laptops.

Police chiefs have warned that forces are struggling to cope with the vast quantities of electronic material.

Cameron’s barrister, Ian Kelsey, blamed cuts for the disclosure failures. “I believe our criminal justice system is in a state of utter collapse,” he told Channel 4 News.

He said the system was playing “Russian roulette” with people’s lives, as defendants were going to court “not knowing whether the matter has been robustly investigated or not.”

Cameron said it was an “overwhelming relief” to be able to “move on” with his life.

“I have been waiting for almost two years and nine months now to actually have this resolved and all this time I've known I was innocent, but the whole time I've felt like I was treated as if I was guilty until I was proven innocent.”

In January it was discovered that 30,000 Facebook messages had not been or examined by police.

Avon and Somerset Police and the CPS said that it was only during a review of the case in January that the complainant disclosed additional evidence to them. Taunton Crown Court heard an application to dismiss the case and Cameron was cleared.

Judge David Ticehurst said it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the resource difficulties.