Every police force in Britain was under pressure last night to review thousands of rape, sexual assault and child abuse cases.

The Metropolitan Police is already urgently examining 30 sensitive investigations, with 'scores' more to follow.

It comes as DC Mark Azariah, the detective in charge of two collapsed rape trials, was removed from active duty by the Met following the revelation police failed to disclose vital evidence to prosecutors.

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Isaac Itiary, 24, was remanded in jail for four months after being charged with raping a child under 16 - but has been freed after texts showing his evidence were not released by Met DC Mark Azariah (right) who is no longer working on active cases

Liam Allan, pictured with his mother Lorraine, poses outside Croydon Crown Court after all rape charges against him were dropped

Attorney General Jeremy Wright said the cases are 'appalling failures of the criminal justice system'.

And campaigners and legal experts warned the failures are likely to be far more widespread – and that further cases could be undermined by shocking blunders by officers.



Around 30 cases are already set for trial and are being prioritised, but it is not yet known how many other cases will be affected.

Prosecutor who stopped Liam Allan case over withheld texts says it happens 'every single day and has to stop' The barrister who stopped the prosecution in the Liam Allan after texts proved he was innocent said today it 'happens every day'. Jerry Hayes (pictured), a former Tory MP, said officers are withholding evidence that undermines their case and 'it's got to stop'. He told Radio 4 this morning: 'This is not one rogue officer. This is a systemic, cultural problem with the police. It is enshrined in law that police officers have to be independent. They have to look at all the evidence. They have to log it. 'They are not just building a case to prosecute someone. If there is anything there that undermines the prosecution case they've got to tell you. 'And if there's anything that undermines or rather assists the defence case they've got to tell you too. But that is not happening. You speak to any barrister they will tell you stories that this happens every single day and it has got to stop'. He went on: 'I was speaking to the barrister [in the Itiari case] this morning. They had been asking for these tests [victim's phone records] for months. Now, this is not something that has just been forgotten. Were they deliberately sitting on it? We don't know but these are very, very worrying systemic problems'. Advertisement

It has now opened the door for hundreds of convicted rapists to start appealing their sentences.

It came as: Justice Minister Dominic Raab said the 'basic principle of British justice is at stake', the police watchdog faced urgent calls to conduct a national inquiry, one QC said the 'rigid mindset' of police being told to always 'believe' victims may leave supposedly open-minded inquiries fatally flawed, the prosecutor in one failed case said defence teams should insist on a written guarantee that no material exists which could undermine a trial and Mr Wright ordered a review of disclosure processes, including legislation.

Scotland Yard is at the centre of the growing 'disclosure' crisis after a second rape trial collapsed in less than seven days.

Police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) officials are accused of breaking a key rule by failing to pass on any material they discover to a suspect's defence team.

One barrister branded it a 'systemic cultural problem' in which police are only gathering facts for the prosecution.

Experts added the huge amount of digital information in many cases is overwhelming officers.

On Tuesday Isaac Itiary, 25 – who was charged with 11 crimes, including rape, involving an underage girl – walked free after prosecutors offered no evidence.

They had discovered mobile phone messages that supported his claim the alleged victim posed as a 19-year-old.

He had spent four months on remand. Last week, student Liam Allan, 22, was vindicated in similar circumstances.

In response, Metropolitan Police Commander Richard Smith confirmed 30 'priority' cases, which are either due to go to trial or in which the suspect has been charged, are being reviewed urgently and 'scores' more will then be considered with support from the CPS.

He said 'something has gone badly wrong' in Mr Allan's case but the disclosure system worked as it should with Mr Itiary.

Mr Allan, a psychology student at Greenwich University, is planning to sue the police and the CPS for their bungled handling of the case

'Police think every sex attack complainant must be believed', says top QC A top QC says police automatically believe complainants in sex attack cases. Mark George QC says the 'policy' is what got officers in trouble over the case of Liam Allan. Writing on his blog he said: 'The attitude of the police officer who failed to consider that the material easily passed the statutory test for disclosure was engendered by the very idea now written into the official policy of the College of Policing that means that a complainant in a sex case must be believed. 'Any police officer who considered that her or his duty was to investigate the case fearlessly and with a view to seeing if the allegation would stand up in court or was likely to fail should have considered the text messages between the complainant and the accused in this case'. Advertisement

The same sexual offences specialist officer – DC Mark Azariah, who has worked on several high profile cases – was responsible for the evidence in both cases.

He has been taken off 'active investigations' pending a review, but has not been suspended.

The review is being closely watched by the Home Secretary, who could order a national audit if more failings are found.

Mr Raab said: 'The basic principle of British justice is at stake ... What we need to know now is quite how widespread that is and why.

This is not a new thing. It should be made easy by technology.'

The National Police Chiefs' Council said: 'We have been addressing recommendations from criminal justice inspectorates that identified the need for improvement in the way that disclosure is handled.

We are working with the College of Policing and CPS to resolve the issues raised.

As part of this we will consider the findings of the Met's review ... and the impact of the amount of digital material officers now need to analyse, especially in fraud and sex offence cases.'

The PM's spokesman said: 'The two cases ... have obviously raised some serious issues which need to be looked at in greater detail.'

Rape trial shambles is latest sex attack case to end in chaos Leo Mahan and Thady Duff (left) were cleared of rape when it emerged detectives had 'cherry picked' the evidence while Bartolomeo Joly de Lotbiniere, 22, (right) was cleared of rape reported to police 14 months later It comes after a string of rape cases were found to have fallen apart. Friends Thady Duff, Leo Mahon, Patrick Foster, all 22, and James Martin, 20, were charged with gang-raping a young woman following the May Ball at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, Gloucestershire in 2014. It was alleged that the violent assault was filmed, and the footage circulated via Snapchat. But the trial at Gloucester Crown Court collapsed after it emerged that detectives had 'cherry picked' and 'airbrushed' the evidence. A study of the alleged victim's phone revealed that she had sent nude pictures of herself to one of the men in advance of the ball and also how she had given inconsistent accounts of a 'threesome' she took part in at an Army barracks five months after the alleged university rape. Shockingly, none of this material was handed over to the prosecution or defence by an investigating police officer. Royal Agricultural University students Mahon, Foster and Duff, and friend Martin, were cleared in 2016 after the prosecution offered no evidence. An IPCC investigation later found that detectives had no case to answer for misconduct. Bartolomeo Joly de Lotbiniere, 22, was accused of raping a geography student at York University after a night out downing cheap spirits and alcopops. His 19-year-old accuser said his advances were unwanted and that she froze in terror as Lotbiniere, also then 19, undressed her and carried her to bed in her halls of residence. But she only reported Mr Joly de Lotbiniere to police 14 months after the alleged attack when he appeared on television in six episodes of the BBC2 quiz show University Challenge. After such a long passage of time there was no forensic evidence, only individual testimonies, accounts from friends and text messages. Mr Joly de Lotbiniere insisted what had happened was a 'two way', consensual one-night stand, saying : 'Drunk or sober I would never rape anybody.' After two trials spread over seven months — the first ended in a hung jury — he was found not guilty of rape and sexual assault in September. Advertisement

Why are rape suspects named in the UK and what are the rules in other countries? Anonymity for men and women accused of rape until conviction was in place for 12 years until 1988 when it was repealed. At the time one of the main reasons given was that the public could not be warned by police if a suspected rapist was on the run, for example, without asking for a judge's permission first. Margaret Thatcher's government also wanted to 're-balance' the system in favour of victims - and in high profile cases encourage other victims to come forward. People accused of rape in Britain can be named and cases involving public figures often attract significant media attention. Parliament has considered the idea of anonymity for those accused of rape on a number of occasions. The previous Coalition Government said it would extend anonymity in rape cases to defendants. However, having undertaken an assessment of the evidence, it concluded in 2010 that there was insufficient reliable evidence to justify a change in the law. Anonymity is not granted for rape defendants in any other common law country, with the exception of the Republic of Ireland. There, a rape defendant's identity can be made public only if they are convicted of rape. Advertisement

Justice minister Dominic Raab told BBC Radio 5 Live's Emma Barnett it was 'absolutely right' for the Met to carry out a review, adding: 'The basic principle of British justice is at stake.'

Prime Minister Theresa May's official spokesman said the attorney general last week ordered a review to look at disclosure processes - including codes of practice, guidelines and legislation relating to sexual offences and other types of crime - which is expected to report back in 2018.

Concerns have previously been raised at the most senior level of the criminal bar that disclosure failures and lack of resources will lead to miscarriages of justice.

Angela Rafferty QC, the chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, suggested 'unconscious bias' stops the police and the CPS 'impartially and thoroughly investigating and scrutinising complaints in sexual offence cases'.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick told the BBC that the use of evidence in other cases was being looked into to reassure the public.

She said: 'We won't be re-investigating all of those, but we we will be reviewing them to make sure that we have discharged our obligations in relation to disclosure - i.e. that everything that should have happened has indeed happened in relation to disclosure.

'So, we have got a team looking at all of those because the public will want to be reassured that we don't have anything similar coming through the system.'

Attorney General Jeremy Wright, who is carrying out a review into disclosure, told BBC Radio 4's PM programme: 'We can't look at this solely as a resource issue.

'What I think we need to do is understand that the type of evidence that is being used in criminal trials is changing.'

Referring to the two collapsed cases, he added they were 'obviously appalling failures of the criminal justice system'.



