A Cadiz man (Costa de la Luz)was sentenced to 13 years in prison by a Cadiz court in 1996.He has served his time in prison but it has now been shown that he did not commit the crimes of which he was accused.Rafael Ricardi has had his sentence overridden by the High Court’s Criminal division .

The victim claimed to have recognised the accused in a photograph and she also identified his voice.However the DNA evidence found after the rape,which took place on August 121995 has been examined by the National Institute of Toxicology and it shows that some of the alleles matched those of the accused but othere neither matched his or thevictim’s.

Later tests with improved DNA technology confirmed that the semen did not come from Ricardi and in 2008 another man was arrested and sentenced .Ricardi was set free from Topas prison in Salamanca in July 2008.The High Court has ruled that Ricardi was most definitely innocent .