A rising star of the Liberal Democrats has told how his life and career were ruined by false allegations of historical sexual abuse – raising questions over why the police and Crown Prosecution Service failed to uncover an apparently fatal flaw in their evidence for almost three years.
It is claimed they continued to hound Jason Zadrozny despite knowing that his male accuser, who was underage when allegedly attacked, had been in hospital due to Class A drug addiction and was treated with Zopiclone, which can induce delusions.
They were also aware that key features of the allegations made by Mr Zadrozny’s accuser – including identification of a house where he claimed he was abused – flew in the face of the facts.
Nottinghamshire Police discovered at an early stage that the only other material witness in the case, who claimed she had seen Mr Zadrozny kissing the alleged victim, had previously been convicted of perverting the course of justice for lying to protect her partner in a murder case.
Jason Zadrozny, once a rising star in the Liberal Democrats, has told how his life and career were ruined by false allegations of historical sexual abuse
But it was only on October 30, when the trial was to due begin – and 950 days after Mr Zadrozny’s arrest – that the CPS announced it was dropping all 24 charges of sexual assault and unlawful sexual activity with a child.
The prosecution told Nottingham Crown Court that it would be offering no evidence because there was ‘no realistic prospect of conviction’. The judge told Mr Zadrozny, 37, he was ‘not guilty on all counts’.
The clinching fact only emerged last month when Mr Zadrozny’s solicitor, Matt Hayes, received confirmation from the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency that his client did not buy a distinctive red Ford Galaxy until November 2005 – something Mr Zadrozny had told the police from the day of his arrest.
The alleged victim claimed Mr Zadrozny had abused him in this vehicle and driven him to the house where he was raped in 2003 and 2004.
For Mr Zadrozny, who had once seemed set to win a seat in Parliament for the marginal Nottinghamshire constituency of Ashfield where he lived and grew up, vindication has been bittersweet.
‘My life has been changed beyond recognition,’ he told The Mail on Sunday. ‘I never go shopping now until late at night, when I know the supermarkets will be empty.
‘I can be walking down the high street and someone will confront me and call me a paedophile.
‘I’m broke. Clearing my name has taken almost every penny I had. And I lost my chance to represent the area where I grew up in Parliament.’
Serious questions have been asked over the police and the CPS’ handling of the case. This is the house were the alleged rapes took place – but it had no connection with Mr Zadrozny
Almost a month after his acquittal, the agony continues: ‘The elation of being found innocent has gone,’ said Mr Zadrozny. ‘When the furore was still raging, at least I had a focus. Now I’m left trying to pick up the threads of my life, but it’s sinking in what I’ve lost. In every way, I feel bereaved.’
An investigation by this newspaper has revealed:
– The alleged victim showed police a house where he said Mr Zadrozny raped him – yet legal documents obtained by the MoS show police were soon aware that he had no connection with it;
– The woman previously convicted of perverting the course of justice – who, like the alleged victim, cannot be named for legal reasons – also claimed she travelled with the ‘victim’ and Mr Zadrozny in the red Galaxy long before he owned it;
– Local journalists have told The Mail on Sunday that news of Mr Zadrozny’s arrest was deliberately leaked to them the next day by an unknown Labour Party source and a senior, unnamed, police officer – so ensuring that it attracted maximum publicity;
– Despite Mr Zadrozny’s strong protestations of innocence, he was forced out of the Lib Dems, though none of the ‘evidence’ had been tested in court;
– The prosecution did not disclose evidence of some of the crucial weaknesses in its case to the defence until late last year – almost two years after Mr Zadrozny’s arrest. Even then, the charges hung over him for a further ten months.
Mr Zadrozny’s ordeal began at 7.30 am on March 25, 2015, when police raided his home in Kirkby-in-Ashfield and arrested him.
It was just 56 days before the General Election, in which he would have stood as Ashfield’s Liberal Democrat candidate.
In fact, Mr Zadrozny lived in this nearby house – but he bought it after the alleged offences started
Mr Zadrozny had built up one of the country’s biggest and most active constituency branches. In 2010, he lost to the sitting Labour MP by just 192 votes, and local observers say he had a strong chance of winning in 2015. But the political atmosphere had, they say, become toxic.
The police put it to Mr Zadrozny that he started having sex with the ‘victim’ in 2003, when the boy was aged 13, and that this continued for several years.
Mr Zadrozny, who is openly gay, said: ‘When I was questioned by police, I experienced a degree of homophobia I thought had vanished. My sexuality has never been a secret, but it wasn’t an issue, even in a former mining town like Ashfield.
‘But I was repeatedly asked the most explicit and intimate questions. I felt one of the officers was simply disgusted that I am gay. After listening to their questions, I felt dirty.’
Meanwhile, officers raided the Lib Dem offices, seizing computers and mobile phones that Mr Zadrozny had never used. His campaign manager, Dave Hennigan, said: ‘Our HQ was rendered useless. They disabled our campaign.’
Legal papers obtained by the MoS show that none of these items revealed any evidence that would have figured in the trial if it had gone ahead.
Early on the day after the raid, Tony Delahunty, the managing director and news editor of radio station Mansfield 103.2, received a phone call from a ‘senior police officer’ to say Mr Zadrozny had been arrested and questioned about historic sex offences.
Mr Delahunty said: ‘This was before any official statement, and it was coming direct from Notts police. It looks now like an attempt to manipulate the media.
‘I had never been given a tip-off like this before, and it never happened again.’
Meanwhile, John Hess, then the BBC East Midlands political editor, was given details of the arrest and the raid on the Lib Dem HQ by what he describes as a Labour source. He sent an email informing colleagues – seen by this newspaper – at 10.28 am on March 26. The police did not issue any official comment until 12.22 pm.
For Mr Zadrozny, the consequences were disastrous: ‘It meant I couldn’t catch my breath or warn my family. The press were lined up outside my door and the non-stop bombardment lasted days.
‘I believe the intention was to cause me maximum damage, not only politically but emotionally, to break me.
‘Everyone assumed the worst must be true, and in our society allegations of this kind are the worst you can throw at anyone.’
The ‘victim’ alleged Mr Zadrozny raped him in 2003 and 2004 in a red Ford Galaxy, similar to the one pictured. But Mr Zadrozny only bought it in late 2005 – a fact he told police
He was not charged for more than a year, but his parliamentary career was over: ‘The Lib Dem national HQ asked me to step aside. I was protesting my innocence, but they wouldn’t even talk to me.’
Worse was to come. Mr Zadrozny said his father, Richard, 62, had found his ordeal ‘almost unbearable’. On July 14, concerned that he had not heard from his father, he went to his house and unlocked the door. Richard was lying on the floor, dead from a heart attack, having previously been in good health.
Describing the moment, Mr Zadrozny is visibly overcome: ‘The worst thing is my Dad did not live to see me clear my name.’
Mr Zadrozny insists that although he may have met the alleged victim once, he certainly never had a sexual relationship with him.
Bizarrely, however, the ‘victim’ did later have a relationship with one of Mr Zadrozny’s former associates – which may be how he acquired information about Mr Zadrozny’s life, such as the fact that he once owned a Galaxy.
It took months and three pre-trial hearings before, late last year, the prosecution disclosed some of the weaknesses in its case to the defence. These included the alleged victim’s record of drug abuse, the female witness’s conviction for perverting the course of justice, and the fact that the ‘victim’ had been driven around the area by police and had showed them a ‘big house’ where he claimed Mr Zadrozny assaulted him.
But the house he identified – in Sutton-in-Ashfield – had no connection with Mr Zadrozny.
He did once live in a nearby property that looked totally different. But he did not buy this until June 2006 – when the ‘victim’ was nearly 16.
In January this year, when the trial had been due to start, the judge said he hoped the police and CPS would be conducting high-level inquiries as to why it had taken them so long to disclose these problems. In October, just five days before the CPS dropped all charges, defence barrister Justin Wigoder filed a document saying the disclosure delays amounted to a ‘bad faith abuse of process’.
Mr Zadrozny said: ‘All along I’ve wondered how I could have been charged, let alone found guilty’
A CPS spokesman said this allegation was ‘groundless’. He blamed the delays on Mr Zadrozny, saying he was late filing his statement of defence. It was only then that the prosecution was obliged to disclose the flaws in its evidence. The decision to drop the charges means the abuse of process claim was never ruled on by the court.
But one thing Mr Zadrozny had made clear from the beginning was that he did not own the Ford Galaxy until late 2005. Police checked his details with the DVLA. The legal papers show they did find records of other cars he had owned.
But a police spokeswoman said they could not establish when he bought the Galaxy because they did not have the registration number.
Defence solicitor Mr Hayes made his own check, which proved his client had been telling the truth.
Mr Zadrozny said: ‘All along I’ve wondered how I could have been charged, let alone found guilty.
‘I’m loathe to believe the police can really be so incompetent, and that it took nearly three years. The agenda seems to have been to prolong the pain as long as possible.’
A police spokeswoman said they did not publish Mr Zadrozny’s name until he was charged. She said Lib Dem HQ computers were seized because ‘it was necessary to examine all possible evidence, and in this case that included information which may have been held on electronic devices’.
She added: ‘We have a duty to investigate all reports of sexual offences, no matter how long ago they occurred or who they are against. Victims should feel they will be listened to by the police, who will then investigate thoroughly.’
A CPS spokesman added: ‘We stopped this case, at the first opportunity, following a review of evidence the defendant had previously withheld from the investigation.’