Rape accused has charge overturned on appeal

A MAN who was jailed for five years for rape has had his conviction overturned after a judge said he did not receive a fair trial and the Crown revealed it was no longer supporting the finding of guilt.

Judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh told Richard Gibbons yesterday that they would quash his conviction for the offence.

Gibbons, 48, of Dunbeth Avenue, Coatbridge, was found guilty by a majority verdict of the rape of the woman at a house in Airdrie in November 2008 following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow last year. Gibbons denied the allegations.

Lord McEwan sentenced him to five years in prison in August but took the unusual step of backdating the sentence to 24 November 2008, despite Gibbons being on bail, which could have significantly shortened the time he spent in jail, prompting a Crown appeal.

But Gibbons also raised an appeal against his conviction and was freed in November last year pending it being heard. He maintained that he had been a victim of a miscarriage of justice.

The judge noted that the later Cadder case, where the Supreme Court in London ruled against police interviews without legal representation on human rights grounds, would have important implications for Gibbons' appeal.

When the case called before Lord Eassie, sitting with Lord Bonomy and Lord Brodie, at a procedural hearing yesterday, defence solicitor advocate Brian Gilfedder said he understood the Crown had been going to consider its position in the case.