A miscarriage of justice was declared at the Court of Criminal Appeal A man who was jailed for rape after going to the aid of a drunken teenager in Edinburgh has been declared a victim of a miscarriage of justice. Desmond Uttley was sentenced to six years in jail after he was found guilty of raping the 15-year-old girl in 2002. However, after hearing new evidence, judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal overturned his conviction. The 35-year-old had denied raping the schoolgirl at his Lochend Gardens home on 14 June in 2002. He had stood trial at the High Court in Glasgow later that year. We are satisfied that the verdict, returned in ignorance of this evidence, must be regarded as a miscarriage of justice

Lady Dorrian

Court of Criminal Appeal The girl had been out with a 14-year-old male friend and both been "extremely intoxicated" after drinking cider. She was unable to stand without help and was lying on the road in the pouring rain when Mr Uttley arrived on the scene and helped her friend to pick her up. He invited them both back to his house and carried the girl to his home where he laid her on a bed and she fell asleep. During Mr Uttley's trial she identified him as her attacker, although she had given the police two descriptions of her assailant, neither of which matched him. After jurors retired to consider their verdict, they returned to the court with questions over whether tests were carried out on swabs taken from the teenager, and if Mr Uttley's DNA was present on them. The trial judge, Lord Menzies, told them there was no DNA evidence in respect of those swabs. The appeal court heard that no blood or semen was found on the swabs from the teenager and they were not submitted for DNA testing. Three men Mr Uttley's defence lawyers on Thursday led evidence at his appeal from a Strathclyde University forensic science lecturer, Dr Adrian Linacre, who was asked to examine swabs taken from the teenager in 2004. He carried out a particular type of DNA analysis on the Y chromosome, which was different from the standard genetic fingerprinting test. He found no DNA matching Mr Uttley, but did find there was some from three other male sources. Lady Dorrian said: "We are satisfied that the verdict, returned in ignorance of this evidence, must be regarded as a miscarriage of justice." The Crown asked for time to consider the judgement over whether to make a motion for a new prosecution.



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