My brother in law has gone through hell over the last 7 months, since December 2005. He’s a taxidriver in Blackpool and was accused by a female passenger of touching her legs and breasts in the course of a 3 minute drive (while going round a curvy route- and with his right hand!). This happened just before Christmas and he lost nearly two weeks of work at a busy time of year. And he has had this hanging over him since then with possible loss of freedom, job (self employed), and house. He’s married with a 9 year old daughter and no criminal record.

The woman was heavily intoxicated- her friends had to hold her up to get her in the car. She described my brother in law as 25-30 with brown hair. He’s 40 with grey hair! She said in her statement that her boyfriend (at the destination) was waiting with door open when she arrived and witnessed her breasts being fondled. Her boyfriend said that he was in the back of the house and the first he knew she was back was when she put her key in the lock.

Result- 12 Jurors took 20 minutes to all decide Not Guilty. Why on earth did this come to court in the first place? Are the Crown Prosecution Service on some politically correct, ‘Try them in court no matter what the evidence’ waste the taxpayer’s money kick? The Judge said it shouldn’t have come to court. But at least it was a fair result.