oliver mears became the fourth man in four weeks to have long—standing charges against him dropped shortlyl because of the late discovery of information suggesting his innocence. we'll hear from the director of public prosecutions in a moment, asking whether her service — far from defending the interests of victims and accused alike — is actually failing both, but first here's chris cook. concern about the police and crown prosecution service's handling of rape charges has been mounting on several fronts lately. a month ago, the cps said they were reviewing 30 rape trials that were about to start. we don't know what they have concluded, but we know this, 19—year—old oliver mears learned the case against him had dropped after new evidence, a diary, was unearthed. and by now he has already spent two years on bail. earlier this week another case collapsed after photos on a phone undermined the case, pictures found by an expert hired by the defence. and in september a case of sexual activity against a child was dropped after a text showed the alleged victim had lied about her age. and here is

last week, a rape charge against oxford university student oliver mears was dropped shortly before his when a diary which supported his case was uncovered. and danny kay, who had a rape conviction overturned after spending two years in prison, said earlier this month he felt let down by the justice system. devastating for a system that you trust to let you down like that. and i had complete faith in it. i trusted the truth would come out in trial and it didn't. earlier this week the bbc revealed the number of collapsed prosecutions increased by 70% over the last two years. a national disclosure plan has now been published by the cps, the national police chiefs' council and the college of policing to help make improvements. adina campbell, bbc news. the attorney general for england and wales is calling for more training for police and prosecutors to deal better with rape and sexual assaults. this category of case where rape might have occurred but the parties are known to reach other is a very specific category where you don't normally have additional evidence to confirm who is right or

last week, a rape charge against oxford university student oliver mears was dropped shortly before hishen a diary which supported his case was uncovered. and danny kay, who had a rape conviction overturned after spending two years in prison, said earlier this month he felt let down by the justice system. devastating for a system that you trust to let you down like that. and i had complete faith in it. i trusted the truth would come out in trial and it didn't. earlier this week the bbc revealed the number of collapsed prosecutions increased by 70% over the last two years. a national disclosure plan has now been published by the cps, the national police chiefs' council and the college of policing to help make improvements. adina campbell, bbc news. yesterday saw another case collapsed because social media evidence was not disclosed. the judge in that trial has ordered the crown prosecution service to explain itself after three people held on trafficking and prostitution charges were thrown out after the material cast doubt on the complainant's story. earlier i spoke to paul keleher, a ba

this is the case of oliver mears, an oxford university chemistry student who was arrested 2.5 years ago has taken up to this point today for him to be declared not guilty here at guildford crown court. thejudge asked not guilty here at guildford crown court. the judge asked the prosecution to explain the reasons why there had been, in the words of thejudge, so why there had been, in the words of the judge, so many why there had been, in the words of thejudge, so many unnecessary delays in this case. the prosecution said it had been a finely balanced case but new material had emerged. what that material was we are not exactly sure, something to do with a diary that has been obtained quite late on, there is some sensitive material relating to the alleged victim, and also some investigations around digital devices, but this is the fourth time now in four weeks that a rape prosecution has been halted nearly at the 11th hour and there certainly is an investigation going on, a wider investigation, into issues of disclosure, the requirement on the crown to disclose evidence, the defence, and t

last week, a rape charge against oxford university student oliver mears was dropped shortly before hisa diary which supported his case was uncovered. and danny kay, who had a rape conviction overturned after spending two years in prison, said earlier this month he felt let down by the justice system. devastating for a system that you trust to let you down like that. and i had complete faith in it. i trusted the truth would come out in trial and it didn't. earlier this week the bbc revealed the number of collapsed prosecutions increased by 70% over the last two years. a national disclosure plan has now been published by the cps, the national police chiefs‘ council and the college of policing to help make improvements. adina campbell, bbc news. lets cross to clive coleman, our legal affairs respondent. this sounds quite extraordinary, really. many cases to be reviewed?m sounds quite extraordinary, really. many cases to be reviewed? it is not putting too fine a point on it to say this is something like a crisis for the criminaljustice system. lawyers working within that system have been t

oliver mears was cleared just days before his trial was due to start.ppened there in court. this is the fourth time in four weeks that a rape prosecution has collapsed at the last minute, because key evidence has emerged which has undermined the prosecution's case, this particular case concerned oliver mere, a 19—year—old student at oxford university studying chemistry. he has been investigate bed i police for two—and—a—half year, he has been on police bailfor much of for two—and—a—half year, he has been on police bail for much of that time. he was charged with an offence of rape and indecent assault injune last year, the trial was due start on monday, but today, the prosecution decided to offer no evidence against mr mere, he was formally cleared by the judge, who wa nted formally cleared by the judge, who wanted to know why it has taken the prosecution so long to get to this point. he said the delays had been unnecessary, and had left mr mears and the alleged victim with this case hanging over their heads for too long, the prosecution explained that m

the judge today has recorded formerly a verdict of not guilty against oliver mears because the prosecutionches and was a finely balanced case. additional material had tipped the balance. she was asked by the judge to explain what that material was. she talked about a diary containing sensitive material relating to the complainant. she talked about digital evidence as well. it appears, although she did not say this, that there was certainly some, possibly in criticism of the police for the length of time and had taken for this material to emerge —— some implicit criticism. at the end of the proceedings the judge said there we re the proceedings the judge said there were unnecessary delays in this case. he said oliver mears and the complainant had these matters hanging over their heads were two yea rs hanging over their heads were two years and demanded a full explanation from the head of the rape and sexual assault unit of the crown prosecution service within 28 days. thank you, danny. next this morning — the duke of cambridge sported a newly trimmed hairstyle when he visited a children's h

last week, a rape charge against oxford university student oliver mears was dropped shortly before hisary which supported his case was uncovered. and danny kay, who had a rape conviction overturned after spending two years in prison, said earlier this month he felt let down by the justice system. devastating for a system that you trust to let you down, and i had complete faith in it. i trusted the truth would come out in trial and it didn't. earlier this week the bbc revealed the number of collapsed prosecutions increased by 70% over the last two years. a national disclosure plan has now been published by the cps, the national police chiefs‘ council and the college of policing to help make improvements. adina campbell, bbc news. the prime minister has welcomed a landmark ruling by trade authorities in the us, overturning a decision to impose huge tariffs on planes which are partly built in the uk. the aerospace firm bombardier won a surprise victory in its dispute with the american company boeing about selling its passenger jets to us airlines. the wings for the planes are manufactured