## Alexander Sehmer

# Man falsely accused of sexual assault on actress wants apology from CPS over 'bemusing' case

## Mark Pearson was accused of attacking a 'well known' film star at Waterloo train station

### 16 February 2016

Footage showed Mark Pearson walking through the station where he was accused of assaulting the woman (CPS)

Mark Pearson, the man wrongly accused of sexually assaulting a "well known" film star after he brushed past her at Waterloo train station, has blamed the Crown Prosecution Service for bringing the "bemusing" case to trial.

Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, he said the police "were as bemused as I was" about the case, and that he was still waiting for an apology from the CPS.

Mr Pearson was accused of attacking the actress, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as he made his way across a crowded concourse.

But CCTV footage shows the 51-year-old artist and picture framer did not break his stride as he walked past his alleged victim.

In the footage Mr Pearson can be seen with a newspaper in his left hand and a bag in his right.

No physical contact could be seen between the pair and it reportedly took them no more than half a second to pass each other, a half a second that Mr Pearson has said before turned into "a year of hell".

"They [the CPS] should have looked at the evidence and concluded, as everybody else did, that I could not have done it," he told the BBC.

"I haven't been given an apology. No explanation."

The alleged incident occurred at London's Waterloo station (Getty)

The CPS were shown to have deliberately slowed down the footage, making it appear as though Mr Pearson had more time to assault the alleged victim.

Asked how he felt when he was acquitted, Mr Pearson said he felt "relief" but "numb because I didn't understand why I had gone through that process".

Mr Pearson, who says he suffers from anxiety and insomnia as a result of the allegations, has written to CPS chief Alison Saunders requesting a meeting but has not yet had a response.

A CPS spokesman said: "There was sufficient evidence for this case to proceed to court and progress to trial. We respect the decision of the jury."

It took a jury at Blackfriars Crown Court 90 minutes to clear Mr Pearson of the charge of "sexual assault by penetration".

There were no witnesses, no forensic evidence and the actress failed to pick out Mr Pearson in an identity parade after the alleged incident on 3 December 2014, according to Mail on Sunday newspaper.

(Additional reporting by agencies)

More about: Mark Pearson

independent.co.uk