Man’s rape convictions quashed following trial judge’s misdirection of jury

A Scottish man has had his rape convictions overturned, as reported by scottishlegal.com:

A man jailed for eight years for the rape of two women has had his convictions quashed after Appeal Court judges ruled he suffered a miscarriage of justice.

Lord Eassie, sitting with Lady Smith and Lady Clark of Calton ruled that Alan Clark, 40, suffered a miscarriage of justice.

At the High Court in Glasgow in 2014, Mr Clark was convicted after trial of the rape of two of his former partners – convictions which turned on the application of the Moorov doctrine and hence on the complainers’ evidence being credible and reliable.

The ‘Moorov doctrine’ relates to the admissibility of similar fact evidence; you can read about it on Wikipedia here: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Moorov_v_HM_Advocate#/The_Moorov_doctrine

The full report from Scottish Legal News can be seen here: http://www.scottishlegal.com/2016/02/03/mans-rape-convictions-quashed-following-trial-judges-misdirection-of-jury/