Man exonerated after 14 years

Man exonerated after 14 years

LONDON (AFP): A man who has spent 14 years in jail for rape was cleared on Friday after Britain's appeal court ruled that his alleged victim had probably made up her story.

Roy Burnett, 56, a gardener, had been jailed for life in 1986 after a jury accepted evidence from a 20-year-old nurse that he had raped her.

Burnett refused to admit guilt but had no grounds for an appeal until 1998 when the same woman made a false complaint of rape against someone else.

When police investigating her second claim began to doubt her credibility, Burnett's case was re-opened.

Lord Justice Judge said a re-examination of the evidence given in 1986 had revealed many inconsistencies in her various accounts of what happened and in her description of her alleged assailant.