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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Attempted Rape |
Sentence: |
Life Imprisonment |
Years Imprisoned: |
17 |
Year Crime: |
1996 |
Year Convicted: |
1997 |
Year Cleared: |
2013 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
United Kingdom |
County or Region of Crime: |
England |
City of Crime: |
Redditch |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Victor Nealon was wrongly convicted in January 1997 of the attempted rape of a 22-year-old woman in August 1996 on her way home from a nightclub in Redditch, Worcestershire, England. Redditch is about 15 miles south of Birmingham. To prove his innocence Nealon volunteered his DNA to be tested against swabs of the woman's blouse and underwear, and none of his DNA was found. However, the prosecution didn't disclose the exculpatory DNA evidence to Nealon's lawyer or the judge. Consequently, Nealon was convicted based on the eyewitness identification of him by the victim. He was sentenced to life in prison. Nealon's appeal was denied in January 1998. England's Criminal Case Review Commission dismissed Nealon's applications he submitted in 1999-2001 and again in 2002. New post-conviction DNA tests identified another man's DNA profile on the woman's blouse and underwear. Based on that new evidence and the prosecution's failure to disclose the exculpatory DNA test results prior to trial, the Criminal Case Review Commission filed an application in July 2012 with England's Court of Appeals to quash Nealon's conviction. On December 13, 2013 the Court of Appeals quashed Nealon's conviction based on the new exculpatory DNA evidence and did not order a retrial. Victor Nealon was released later in the day on December 13 after 17 years of imprisonment. In May 2014 the CCRC's chairman Richard Foster publicly apologized to Nealon for twice turning down his applications, saying: "I regret the fact in this particular case we missed something and I apologise to all concerned for the fact we did so."" |
Conviction Caused By: |
Mistaken eyewitness testimony by the victim. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"On December 13, 2013 the Court of Appeals quashed Nealon's conviction based on new exculpatory DNA evidence and did not order a retrial." |
Defendant Aided By: |
"Criminal Case Review Commission (England, Wales, and Northern Ireland)" |
Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
36 |
Age When Released: |
53 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"Victor Nealon freed after 17 years in jail, BBC News, December 13, 2013" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-25363762 |
Information Source 2: |
"Freed prisoner will seek payout, By Press Association, Redditch & Alcester Advertiser, December 13, 2013" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.redditchadvertiser.co.uk/news/10876417.Freed_prisoner_will_seek_payout/?ref=var_0 |
Information Source 3: |
"Man wrongly convicted of sexual assault is freed after 17 years in jail, By Gwyn Topham, The Guardian (London, UK), December 13, 2013" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/13/man-wrongly-convicted-sexual-assault-freed-17-years |
Information Source 4: |
"Wrongfully convicted man Victor Nealon gets apology, BBC News, May 20, 2014" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-27468183 |
Information Source 5: |
"London Letter: When is a wrongful conviction not a miscarriage of justice?, By Mark Hennessy, The Irish Times, June 20, 2014" |
Information Location 5: |
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/london-letter-when-is-a-wrongful-conviction-not-a-miscarriage-of-justice-1.1838804 |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org