England: CPS ‘slowed down’ CCTV footage to incriminate accused

Mark Pearson, 61, was cleared last week at Blackfriars Crown Court of assaulting a woman at Waterloo Station in December 2014.

CCTV footage showed him with a newspaper in one hand and his other on a bag strap.

Speaking to The Telegraph, defence lawyer Mark Bagshaw said: “The few seconds when my client walked past the alleged victim had been slowed down so it looked like he had more time to commit the alleged actions that he in reality did have.

“Instead of one frame per second it was running at one frame per two seconds,” he said.

As a result the defence consulted a forensic specialist who made a storyboard and presented the argument to the jury that Mr Pearson would not have had enough time to assault the woman.

Mr Bagshaw said the CCTV would have been used at the altered speed if the storyboard had not been shown to the CPS with a request it not go forward with the prosecution.

He added: “In the end, the prosecution did not rely on the CCTV at all, except to show that my client was at the station.”

On its decision to take the case to trial a spokesman said: “There was sufficient evidence for this case to proceed to court and progress to trial. We respect the decision of the jury.