A man accused of having sex with underage girls has had his case thrown out because of police mistakes during the investigation.

34 year old Paul Martin Cubberley of Christian Road in Douglas had faced four charges of indecent assault, two of underage sex, and one of gross indecency.

But a diary crucial to the prosecution case had been thrown away and Acting Deemster Alistair Montgomerie said losing that evidence meant Mr Cubberley couldn’t get a fair trial.

He said it beggared belief police had been content to seize only selected pages from the diary describing the sexual experiences of two girls making the accusations.

Jason Roberts reports:

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Police asked for pages of the journal which they wanted to use in evidence against Mr Cubberley, while defence advocate Paul O’Neill said the whole diary was needed.

By the time the case was due to go to trial, one of the girls had thrown it away – along with any other evidence it contained.

Mr Montgomery said he had some sympathy with the officer who’d made the mistake of not taking the whole book, saying she was young, inexperienced and part of an overworked unit.

But he said the mistake by police meant he had no option but to stay the proceedings.