Man convicted of rape freed after deleted Facebook messages recovered
DERBY, UNITED KINGDOM A man convicted of rape walked free after more than two years in jail when his sister-in-law discovered deleted messages on his Facebook page which proved his accuser had lied.
Mr Danny Kay, now 26, was jailed in 2013 for four-and-a-half years after a woman he had sex with in 2012 accused him of rape. She produced Facebook messages that made it look like he was apologising for the act. The jury believed the evidence.
It now turns out that the woman had selectively deleted messages to prove her version of the story. She made it look like he was apologising for the rape when he was in fact apologising for ignoring her, reported the Independent.
All this came to light when a fellow inmate told Mr Kay that deleted messages on his Facebook page can be recovered.
He then told his sister-in-law Sarah Maddison who checked his account and recovered the messages.
Ms Maddison said that it had taken her mere minutes to find the archived conversation, despite not being a social media expert, with surprised cops asking her how she found the messages when they couldn't, reported the Sun. The case went to the Appeals Court which quashed the conviction.
Mr Kay said outside the court: "Even now, with the conviction quashed, I still can't believe that it took years of pain and stress for this nightmare to end.
"And the terrifying thought is that if the police and justice system could fail me like this, it could happen to anyone."
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