Two former Barnardos workers who were jailed for sexual offences against young people in their care won their appeals in Belfast today.
Seventy year-old Margaret Hewitt and George Anderson, 47, were released on bail but may have to face trial again.
Anderson, who used to live at Hillhead Road, Ballycarry, Co Antrim, had been jailed for 18 years and Hewitt for 11 years. She formerly lived at Drain’s Bay, Larne.
Quashing all the convictions, Lord Justice Nicholson said the retraction of evidence by one witness had contaminated the evidence of other witnesses with the result that the court was left with a significant sense of unease about the safety of the jury’s verdicts.
The judge said: “However, that is not the end of the affair. We shall give serious consideration to ordering a re-trial on a signifciant number of counts after we have delivered our written judgement. We will, of course, give careful consideraiton to any submissions regarding a re-trial.”