Jeremy Wainwright successful in the Court of Appeal

The appeal advanced equal treatment based upon the defendant’s sexuality

Jeremy Wainwright won an appeal against conviction today at the Court of Appeal in the case of R. v. U. The appellant had been convicted of sexual assault of an adult after the trial judge put in evidence of the Appellant's open sexuality. The appeal was based upon advancing the law from 2011 when, in R.v.I.J, the Court of Appeal had ruled that "a sexual attraction by one male for another is still sufficiently unusual to … be relevant".

In today's case the court stated that the issue as to whether the appellant was of open or homosexuality was as irrelevant as it would be for a person who was heterosexual. The conviction was quashed and the court agreed with a further submission that it would be unfair to re-try the defendant.

The case is currently anonymised, but a transcript of the ruling will be on Chambers website as soon as it has is available.

Jeremy was instructed by Lisa Towell of Blackfords LLP

http://www.blackfords.com/