Mr Campbell-Tiech told the court that the girls’ evidence differed

Mr Campbell-Tiech told the court that the girls’ evidence differed. DC Stevens, who left court accompanied by his wife, Jane, said he was “tremendously relieved”.. But Andrew Campbell-Tiech QC, for the prosecution, told the court: “What was left that pointed to the identity of the defendant and no one else as responsible for downloading the images? The answer we were left with was simple speculation and nothing more.”The judge ordered DC Stevens to be cleared on all counts. The second expert said Mr Underhill’s analysis of the e-mails was “wholly wrong” and that his claims about the secret file were “wholly false”.When Mr Underhill returned from holiday at the beginning of this week, he was confronted with the new report and admitted the mistakes.Throughout lengthy police interviews, DC Stevens had insisted he knew nothing about the images, and that, while the laptop was his, it was used by several other people.Further holes were blown in the prosecution case when internet and phone providers said they could not supply any records that would link the downloading of the images to DC Stevens.His trial was due to start at Snaresbrook Crown Court in north-east London yesterday. He also claimed to have found a file containing images, which he said could only have been made by someone who wanted to hide them from other users on the computer.His evidence formed the base of the prosecution case that DC Stevens had downloaded the images, distributed them and tried to hide them on the laptop. Brian Underhill is an acknowledged expert in child pornography cases who has worked on other Operation Ore prosecutions, as well as Operation Cathedral, the investigation that smashed the Wonderland paedophile ring.It was not enough that someone’s details had been found on the website – to win a conviction, detectives had to prove that a suspect had downloaded pornographic images.Mr Underhill told prosecutors that he had found 12 indecent images on the laptop’s hard disk, as well as evidence that the pictures had been e-mailed on.

He was charged with five counts of possessing indecent photographs of children, three counts of distributing indecent photographs and three counts of indecent assault on two girls.His details had been found on an international child pornography website, which charged users for accessing and downloading horrific photographs and films showing youngsters being abused.Weeks before his arrest, DC Stevens had won praise as he helped to support the family of 10-year-old Jessica Chapman, who disappeared with her best friend, Holly Wells, at the beginning of August.When police arrested DC Stevens at his home in March, they seized a laptop computer from his living room and brought in an expert to analyse its contents. As the officer walked free from court the CPS also admitted that “substantial errors” by an expert meant the basis of its case against DC Stevens was “wholly wrong”.The collapse of the case could have serious implications for hundreds of pending prosecutions for possession of child pornography, as well as undermining previous cases in which people have been convicted on the evidence of the same expert. Hundreds of prosecutions for child pornography could be challenged after a police liaison officer in the Soham schoolgirls murder case was cleared of possessing indecent images yesterday.
The Crown Prosecution Service said it could not prove Detective Constable Brian Stevens had downloaded the indecent pictures or even knew they were on his laptop computer. The comment about Dr Kelly’s treatment also centred around the way in which his name had come to the surface.. David Kelly, the government weapons expert, predicted that he would be “found dead in the woods” if Iraq was invaded, months before his apparent suicide, the Hutton Inquiry heard today. I think the pressure and strain issue was not one we were aware of .. There was never any sense that he was feeling unhappy .. He was quite robust He did deal with journalists quite regularly .. He was not naive in this area.”.

before the FAC and ISC, and will strongly recommend Kelly is not drawn on his assessment of the dossier. Kelly is apparently feeling the pressure, and does not appear to be handling it well.”20 August (Sir Kevin to the Hutton inquiry)”I was told that he was handling it pretty well … Sir Kevin claimed that it would be in the “public interest” for Dr Kelly to state his scepticism about the claim that Iraq was capable of launching a chemical and biological attack within 45 minutes.He added: “If we had simply sat on this with an expert like Dr Kelly saying this about the 45 minutes we would be accused of covering up.” How the civil servants saw Dr David Kelly10 July (Sir Kevin in a memo to Geoff Hoon)”A further reason for avoiding two hearings .. is to show some regard for the man himself He … is not used to being thrust into the public eye, and is not on trial.”14 July (Memo from Colin Smith, a Downing Street official, to Tim Dowse, a Foreign Office official based in Downing Street, which came to light as Martin Howard, the deputy chief of Defence Intelligence, testified on the fourth day of the inquiry)”DCDI is to brief David Kelly .. for his appearances … On Tuesday, Mr Campbell also appeared to be following this path, criticising the MoD’s strategy in naming Dr Kelly, and then pointedly praising Sir Kevin for the “compassion” he had shown towards the late scientist, without any such praise for Mr Hoon. Sir Kevin said: “He was very concerned that information should be brought to light to correct, as it were, the public record that we should not be seen to be covering it up as it was highly relevant to the inquiry that the FAC was conducting.”The distinct impression was that Sir Kevin was distancing himself from Mr Hoon, who is widely tipped to be the fall guy for the Government. It was not a trial and it seemed reasonable to ask the FAC to show some restraint.”Mr Hoon was very anxious to make public that Dr Kelly was the source of Andrew Gilligan’s “sexing up” claim.