A man’s rape conviction has been sent to the Court of Appeal because there is a real possibility the conviction will be overturned on the basis that a Crown Court had no jurisdiction to try the defendant for the offence in the first place.

The man known as Mr HY was convicted in late 2023 at the Crown Court of rape and other offences. He was jailed for 11 years.  The rape for which Mr HY was convicted was reported to have occurred outside of the United Kingdom.

According to the CCRC, Mr HY applied for leave to appeal his conviction, but this was dismissed by a single judge and he did not renew his application to the Full Court. He then applied to the commission in January last year.  Following a review, the CCRC concluded that prior to 29 June 2021 the Crown Court did not have jurisdiction to try a defendant for rape of an adult complainant under section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 where the alleged offence occurred outside the United Kingdom. This is a new legal argument not raised in the original proceedings.

The CCRC considers there to be a real possibility that on this basis the Court of Appeal will conclude that the Crown Court did not have jurisdiction to try Mr HY for the rape for which he was convicted and therefore will not uphold his conviction.