Student rape case dropped as police admit mistakes

A judge has criticised police and prosecutors after a rape case against a student was dropped days before his trial.

Oxford University student Oliver Mears, 19, spent two years on bail accused of raping and assaulting a woman in July 2015, when he was 17.

However, the case has now been dropped after fresh evidence, including a diary that supported his case, was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service last week.

Surrey Police has admitted "there were flaws in the investigation" after the force failed to examine the woman's "digital media" or follow "a reasonable line of enquiry".

The woman's digital media was only handed to prosecutors on Monday.

Prosecutor Sarah Lindop told Guildford Crown Court on Friday that the case was "finely balanced" from the start and the new material "tips the balance" in favour of Mr Mears.

Judge Jonathan Black demanded the head of the CPS rape and sexual offences unit write to him within 28 days "with a full explanation of what went wrong" before he decides whether any action is required "at CPS or police level".

"It seems to me in a case which is as finely balanced as you say it was, there have been unnecessary delays in investigating... leading to what seems to be a completely unnecessary last-minute decision in this case," he said.

The judge said that both Mr Mears and the complainant would not have had the "matter hanging over their heads for two years" if "the investigation had been carried out properly in the first instance".

:: Student after rape trial thrown out: "I've spent two years living in fear"

Ms Lindop admitted there were "some disclosure matters" in Mr Mears's case, but said it "is not a disclosure case per se".

"There was a diary produced. Part of that was disclosed, we asked for the full copy of it," she told the judge.

The court heard Mr Mears's lawyers asked to see the full diary in October last year and the prosecutor explained: "The police have been trying to secure that."

Surrey Police said the case was dropped for "a number of reasons", only one of which related to the force.

"On January 5 2018, the CPS requested that we provide materials from the victim's digital media," a spokesman for the force said.

"We then contacted the victim, obtained the devices and provided the available material to the CPS on January 15.

"Surrey Police deeply regrets mistakes made in the efficacy of investigations and will always seek to implement continual improvement and specific learning points. "

The force has launched a joint review of the case with the CPS.

A CPS spokesman said that following a review of the case, "prosecutors were not satisfied there was a realistic prospect of conviction".

It comes after Scotland Yard announced a review of every one of its sex crime investigations, where a suspect has been charged, following the collapse of two rape prosecutions in a week.

The CPS offered no evidence against both Liam Allan and Isaac Itiary after the late disclosure of evidence that could have assisted the defendants.