A man who was wrongly accused of sexual assault and locked away for five years has told of how he cried in his cell as he dished out £500k to prove his innocence.
Brian Buckle spent the money on a lengthy legal battle which ultimately ended in his release in 2022 after a jury cleared him in just 80 minutes.
He had been found guilty on 12 counts of indecent assault, three of indecency and one of attempted rape in 2017 against a girl alleged to have been between eight and 10 years old at the time, during the 1990s.
Despite the miscarriage of justice, Mr Buckle has been told he will not be receiving compensation.
Getting emotional in an interview with the BBC, he said: ‘I was in a single cell and I’d just go in there and keep myself to myself and cry and just look around the wall and look at the photos with my family.’
The 51-year-old at this point choked on his words, growing visibly upset. He added: ‘I’ll take this to the grave with me – me, my family. We’ll never forget about this.
‘You can live a life but you can never forget.’
He also gave his reaction to first reading the news his bid for compensation had been refused.
Mr Buckle said: ‘I started reading it and I was crying bascially as soon as I read the bit where I don’t meet the statutory test.’
While Mr Buckle’s wife Elaine, 58, had remained convinced of his innocence, he began a 33-year combined prison sentence, to be served over 15 years.
Elaine set out to prove the innocence with the help of the couple’s daughter, Georgia, 22, as well as Mr Buckle’s mother, Jackie, 68, and his aunt, Daphne, 66.
Following his release, Mr Buckle had his bid for compensation refused by the Ministry of Justice nearly a year after he first submitted his application as his case was not considered to demonstrate ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ that he did not commit the offences for which he was convicted.
This was despite Mr Buckle and his legal team having produced a detailed defence including new witnesses and fresh forensic evidence, at a three-week retrial in 2023. A unanimous ‘not guilty’ verdict was returned by the jury in just over an hour.
The assessor who ruled Mr Buckle was not entitled to compensation had never spoken to him or his legal team.
Mr Buckle said: ‘What do I need to do to prove that I’m an innocent person?
‘I’ve lost five years of my life, my job, my pension. People are absolutely gobsmacked when you tell them I’ve been refused compensation.’
The Ministry of Justice told the BBC it does acknowledge the ‘grave impact of miscarriages of justice’ and is ‘committed to supporting individuals in rebuilding their lives’.
The broadcaster reports ‘life for Brian and his wife is harder’ as a result of the costs and application rejection.
Figures show 93 per cent of similar applications are rejected on average after the law was changed in 2014.
The change meant if a victim of a miscarriage of justice in England and Wales wants to receive compensation, they must not only be cleared, but also demonstrate they are innocent.
Mr Buckle’s barrister, Stephen Vullo KC said this was in effect ‘reversing the burden of proof’.
Mr Vullo KC said: ‘It’s an almost impossibly high hurdle over which very few people can jump.’
He also claimed the legislation change was designed so money would not be paid it.
Mr Buckle was first accused of the abuse in May 2015 and said his first reaction was ‘shock’.
Speaking to The Telegraph, he explained the complainant’s father had reported him and when police approached her she said ‘whatever my father said is true’.
He was alleged to have abused her three times a week for two years between 1993 and 1995, at a location he said he had proof he hadn’t set foot in for much of that period.
Despite this Mr Buckle was put in a cell with a convicted rapist and was not allowed to call his wife for four weeks.