THE TRIAL of a prisoner accused of harassment has been put back due to delays in the prosecution producing evidence.
Alan Giles, who last year absconded from HMP Hewell and is now at HMP Long Lartin in Evesham, has been charged with making numerous attempts to contact a woman, sending a card to her and behaving in a sexual manner towards her.
The offences allegedly occurred in Redditch and Alcester between June 3 and November 7 last year.
Giles’ trial was set to take place on Monday (October 27) but had to be deferred as the Crown Prosecution Service had not yet edited video evidence from the victim and had only produced 100 pages of new transcripts and further evidence days before.
At Redditch Magistrates’ Court the following day (Tuesday), District Judge Nigel Cadbury said he would give the prosecution 28 extra days to produce any further evidence they intended to rely on during the trial and to edit the videos.
If they had not done so in the time allocated, he said they would be barred from using anything they had not submitted and would be unable to apply for special measures so the victim could give evidence via video link rather than in person at court.
“If this court had the power to dismiss cases it would consider doing so quite often,” he added.
It is expected a trial date will be set following the 28 day extension for new evidence.
Giles was found in Alcester by police last November after walking out of the open part of the Tardebigge prison ten days previously.
The 57-year-old had been nearing the end of his sentence for murdering Quinton student Kevin Ricketts in 1995 and would have been eligible for parole this year.
