Ali Dizaei, the former police chief whose convictions for corruption were quashed on Monday, walked out of prison and vowed to rejoin Scotland Yard.
Dizaei was dismissed from the police service in disgrace, ending a 25-year career, after the convictions last year. But the court of appeal ruled that new evidence "significantly discredits" the principal witness against him.
Dizaei, who rose to the rank of commander with Scotland Yard, served over a year in prison, during which time he says he suffered abuse and attacks.
Hours after the judgment, Dizaei was released from Leyhill open prison. But the court of appeal said while it would quash his convictions, "the interests of justice" meant he should face a retrial.
The judges said the officer once tipped to be a possible chief constable, should face a fresh hearing over the criminal charges, finding there was "a good deal of evidence" to support a prosecution, independent of the discredited main witness. Dizaei was granted bail.
Dizaei told a news conference: "When I clear my name it is my intention to go back to the Metropolitan police and serve my time."
He described his time in prison as hell and like "putting a hand in a wasps' nest" as he lived alongside the kind of criminals he had spent over two decades trying to jail. Dizaei, 48, said the appeal court's ruling showed his integrity was "completely intact" and that he was determined to clear his name.
In January 2010, a jury at Southwark crown court unanimously convicted Dizaei of abusing his power as a senior police officer and found he had tried to frame a young web designer in a row over £600. He was jailed for four years.
Some at Scotland Yard, of whom Dizaei was a vocal critic of their record on race, were said to have greeted his conviction by popping champagne corks. The career and reputation of Dizaei, a former president of the National Black Police Association, looked dead and buried after the conviction triggered his sacking from the force and ousting from the group helping ethnic minority officers.
But after his conviction his wife investigated the background of his main accuser, Waad al-Baghdadi, and found the jury at the original trial were asked to believe he was of good character, unaware he was allegedly using the name of his dead father to steal thousands of pounds from the British benefits system. Dizaei said the fact his wife, who had no training in investigative skills, could uncover this, showed how poor the investigation by the Independent Police Complains Commission had been.
During the appeal hearing it also emerged al-Baghdadi told the jury he was born and lived in Iraq, when he was born in Iran. Al-Baghdadi had also given the jury the wrong information about his date of birth and had not testified under his real name. The court of appeal found he had "maintained those false details ... on oath before the jury" and was helped to enter the UK by a false document as he escaped "the cauldron of Iraq/Iran".
The appeal court heard al-Baghdadi told the pension and benefits departments his father was alive so that he could collect his £100-a-week pension, plus an allowance for caring for him. Thousands of pounds in benefits went into bank accounts controlled by al-Baghdadi, said Michael Mansfield QC, representing Dizaei. He was still claiming up until February this year.
In the judgment, Lord Justice Hughes said it was the material the court heard about al-Baghdadi's alleged benefit fraud that convinced the three judges the conviction was unsafe. Hughes wrote: "It is obvious that the fresh information about benefit claims would have had some impact on the jury's deliberations."
The appeal court said it would be for the jury to decide at a retrial if al-Baghdadi was telling the truth about the clash with Dizaei. The crown alleged that on 18 July 2008 Dizaei clashed with al-Baghdadi, who claimed the police commander owed him £600 for a website he had designed.
Dizaei's solictor, Stephen Fox, said: "We're delighted with the result. Ali Dizaei is relieved he can call himself an innocent man again. His whole family has been through a most traumatic experience."
In a statement the Crown Prosecution Service said: "The court has said that a jury should have the opportunity to decide whether the prosecution evidence is sufficient to prove the case against Mr Dizaei, considering the new material relating to the alleged victim.
"The Crown Prosecution Service accepts the judgment and will prepare for the retrial."
Career highs and lows
March 1999 Joins the Met as a superintendent. Tipped as a rising star.
July 1999 Investigation by Scotland Yard anti-corruption squad begins. January 2001 Suspended from duty.
September 2003 Acquitted by an Old Bailey jury of misconduct charges.
October 2003 Met reinstates Dizaei in deal after government pressure.
April 2004 Promoted to chief superintendent then commander in 2008.
June 2008 Assistant commissioner Tarique Ghaffur announces he will sue for racial discrimination,
September 2008 Dizaei suspended from duty again.
November 2008 Ghaffur withdraws allegations after an out-of-court settlement.
May 2009 Dizaei charged over alleged false arrest of Waad al-Baghdadi.
March 2011 Al-Baghdad arrested over alleged benefit fraud.
May 2011 Dizaei's conviction quashed but appeal court orders retrial.
