Nazir Ahmed, former Lord at the British parliament, and his two elder brothers had been on trial at Sheffield Crown Court accused of sexually assaulting two children in Rotherham in the late 1960s and early 1970s … reports Asian Lite News
The Sheffield Crown Court has granted unconditional bail to former Rotherham peer Nazir Ahmed and his two brothers in a historic sexual abuse case as the Crown Prosecution Service challenges its decision to throw out a historic case against them.
The Crown Prosecution Service said it will challenge Judge Jeremy Richardson’s decision to halt the trial after the lapses by the prosecution. The judge dissolved the jury team after four days of trial.
The judge was too critical of the prosecution and said the case should be thrown out due to the CPS’s failure to serve evidence on the defence in time.
Barrister Tom Little represented the CPS. The CPS decision to challenge the court decision makes Nazir Ahmed and his brothers could face another trial in the future, probably in 2022.
Judge Richardson had branded prosecutors as “shameful” for serving “a heap of material” on the defence during the proceedings and “sabotaging” the trial.
Ahmed had been on trial at Sheffield Crown Court accused of sexually assaulting two children in Rotherham in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Judge Richardson stopped the trial after two days of evidence had been heard and discharged the jury after the series of late disclosures by the prosecution. He sought to permanently stay the indictment, which meant the case could not go to a re-trial, at a hearing on Monday after branding the prosecution “disgraceful” over its failure to provide all the evidence to the defence well in advance of the trial.
The judge said the prosecution took 13 months to disclose evidence to Lord Nazir and his brothers.
He said if he listened to the request of the prosecution to order a retrial then “the complainants may feel cheated and the public may demand that justice is done”.
The judge described the situation as a “comprehensive mess” and “shameful”.
Ahmed (63), of East Bawtry Road, Rotherham, was accused of sexually assaulting a boy between 1971 and 1972 and of attempting to rape a girl between 1973 and 1974. The former Rotherham councillor faced counts of buggery, indecent assault and two counts of attempted rape. His brothers, Mohammed Farouq and Mohammed Tariq, were accused of assaulting the same boy, but had been ruled unfit to plead and faced a trial of the facts. Tariq (65), of Gerard Road, Rotherham, faced two counts of indecent assault between 1968 and 1972 and Farouq (70), of Worrygoose Lane, Rotherham, faced four counts of indecent assault between 1970 and 1972.
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