Court of Appeal overturns rapist acquittal

A man has been jailed for life after the Court of Appeal successfully applied to quash his acquittal.

Harbinder Khatkar will serve at least 14 years after being found guilty of attacks on women between December 2011 and February 2013. Two of the women were attacked in the weeks following his acquittal from a rape charge where he was alleged to have attacked the woman in her own home.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) asked judges to retry him and succeeded by arguing that evidence of the new attacks was so similar to that of the earlier attacks that it amounted to new and compelling evidence of his guilt. The CPS’s success was only the 13th time it has applied to quash an acquittal in the time since the “double jeopardy” laws were scrapped.

Steve Chappell, chief crown prosecutor for the CPS East Midlands, said that, though the new evidence gathered was unrelated the earlier offence he was charged with, it showed a very similar pattern of behaviour and this persuaded the Court of Appeal to allow the application.

Khatkar was found guilty of 18 offences including rape, sexual assault, assault by beating and trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence.

http://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/dec/07/violent-rapist-jailed-court-quashes-acquittal

A young boy could be eligible for up to £27,000 in criminal injury compensation after he was attacked by another three year old boy in 2007.

Jay Jones was hit 11 times with a car jack and suffered a gash to his head. His claim was rejected twice before the ruling, as his attacker could not be prosecuted due to his age. The ruling in favour of awarding compensation came after solicitors argued that an attacker’s age was not relevant.

The award to be made is for the psychological trauma suffered as a result of the attack. The total amount to be awarded will depend on psychological tests to assess how badly the boy has been affected by the incident.

The minimum amount he could receive would be £1000, which is the lowest tariff level available under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority scheme. The highest level allows for up to £27,000