An innocent man charged with raping two British women in separate attacks on the island of Barbados has walked free after an extraordinary campaign by the victims he was accused of assaulting.

Dr Rachel Turner, 30, an academic from Hertfordshire, and Diane Davies, 63, a retired teacher from Anglesey, were forced to waive their anonymity as rape victims and even helped organise the defence costs of the accused man, Barbadian Derick Crawford, to prevent what they believed would have been a "terrible miscarriage of justice".

After repeated protests that Barbados police had got the wrong man fell on deaf ears, and utterly convinced of Crawford's innocence, the two fought a year-long public battle for his release, which ended in victory when a magistrate formally dismissed both charges.

As Crawford walked free, his lawyer, Andrew Pilgrim, said: "They are extremely gutsy women, extremely brave and I am completely amazed at what they have done."

Turner, a research associate working on marine resource management at the University of the West Indies, was raped in daylight after being dragged from a path leading to a busy beach on a Saturday in October 2010. Exactly 48 hours later, at the same spot in Holetown St James, Davies, a grandmother who was on holiday, was attacked when the rapist "lifted me up like a rag doll and dragged me into the derelict hotel".

Both women told the police their attacker was in his early 30s, and gave other physical descriptions. When they saw Crawford, 47, who was arrested in 2011, both immediately insisted he looked and sounded nothing like the attacker.

Crawford was held in prison on remand for 18 months after police said they had obtained a confession – later retracted. He faced life imprisonment if convicted. Both women had told the court they would not give evidence against him. They now want a full inquiry into the police investigation.

Turner, who attended Thursday'shearing, said both she and Davies felt they had no choice but to sacrifice their anonymity. "It's outrageous that is the only way we could be heard. I still cannot believe that the police systematically ignored our protests that they had arrested the wrong man, and this was the only way we could get anyone to listen to us," she said.

She and Davies were supported by Hilary Heath, 65, a former actor, who had been raped in Barbados in 2004. Her attacker was only arrested months later after dropping his mobile at the scene of another attack and he had raped around 17 other women. She has since campaigned for better training for police. When she heard of Crawford's case, she agreed to fund his defence "because we want the truth".

Davies said from her home in Valley, Anglesey, she was "absolutely delighted" the case against Crawford had been dropped. "And I am very, very proud of what we have achieved. " The women had personally "paid a tough price for it", she said. But they were committed to the campaign, "because, apart from anything else, the man who did this to Rachel and I is still out there and they have made no efforts to find him". She believes the Barbados police were only interested in protecting the island's tourist industry.

Turner had grave reservations when she first saw a photograph of Crawford, posted by police online. When she saw him in person she was convinced. "He wasn't the right age. He had no legal representation at the hearing so I was only questioned by the prosecution. I wasn't asked about my attacker's build, I wasn't asked whether or not it was him standing there in court. So it wasn't until the very end of the hearing that I heard his voice. And that was the thing that really made me feel it was not him."

She contacted the British high commission to tell them the police had "got the wrong man". They advised her to contact the director of public prosecutions and the commissioner of police. Which she has done, many times, she said, but they "brushed off my concerns". She said of waiving her anonymity: "It wasn't a choice. It was the only thing we could do. I don't know what else we could have done to get the police to listen to us."

Davies, who suffered a broken collar bone and three fractured ribs during the attack, said she put herself through the ordeal "because I feel so strongly about this".

The prosecution yesterday said they had no other evidence against Crawford to submit to the court.

Pilgrim, president of the Barbados Bar Association, called for a full investigation into the case.

Turner said she hoped there would be an inquiry into the police investigation, and also. "we would like the police to catch the real rapist". "The whole investigation has been a sham," she said.