Although a judge had erred in not distinguishing between contemporaneous evidence and that which occurred some years after the relevant events, and in directing that a complainant’s evidence of distress could be corroborative of an allegation of indecent assault, any misdirections were immaterial and could not affect the safety of the appellant’s conviction.
A conviction for the sexual assault of a teenage friend of the appellant’s daughter was safe where the jury had been careful to convict only on the count for which there was some support from other witnesses and from the content of a text message sent after the incident.
The judge’s summing up had devalued the importance of the effect of the delay between the offences and trial. In the particular circumstances of the case a direction should have been given, warning the jury of convicting the appellant of sexual offences without independent supporting evidence.
