Young Syrian men in tears as jury clears them of sex assault on schoolgirls

Three young Syrians who came to the UK after fleeing the civil war wept in the dock after they were cleared of sexually assaulting two schoolgirls in a park.

Omar Badreddin, 18, came to the UK from Jordan as part of a commitment by David Cameron to allow 20,000 Syrian refugees to live in Britain. His family were being filmed by a BBC Newsnight team when the events unfolded. His older brother died in Syria and he left school at 14 to provide for his family.

He was cleared of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old in Leazes Park, Newcastle, in May.

Married Mohammed Alfrouh, 20, was cleared of three counts of sexual assault.

He was accused of kissing one girl in the park on consecutive nights, and of also molesting the girl Mr Badreddin was accused of kissing behind a pavilion.

Mohammed Allakkoud, 18, whose father died in Syria and who was living in Newcastle with his extended family, was accused by the girl of holding her mouth and nose while the others attacked her. He was cleared of a single charge of sexual assault.

The defendants, in a large group of Syrians picnicking in the park, had met the girls on Monday, May 9th, and there was an agreement to see them the next day, the court heard.

The girls smiled and posed for selfies on the Tuesday and the girl who made the allegation about the pavilion was said to have typed her number in Mr Badreddin's phone before leading him off for a kiss. He insisted he did not know she was 14.

During the two week trial defence barristers applied for the case to be thrown out, it can now be reported.

They said that there were inconsistencies in the complainants' evidence to police, to the court and in cross-examination.

One of the girls was a "proven liar", the defence teams claimed, who had fabricated serious allegations about her home life prior to the sex assault claims.

Judge Edward Bindloss decided that the question of the complainants' reliability was best left to the jury and allowed the trial to continue.

Further problems with the high-profile case arose during the evidence Mr Alfrouh gave, when it became apparent major errors had been made by the interpreter during his key interview with police after he was arrested.

The case, in which there were three defence barristers and two barristers for the Crown as well as two Arabic-speaking interpreters, was delayed by one and a half days while all the defendants' interviews with police were checked and re-translated.

One serious mistake arose when Mr Alfrouh described seeing Mr Badreddin and the girl kissing behind the pavilion.

In his police interview he was translated as saying he saw Mr Badreddin's penis and her vagina touching.

But in front of the jury Mr Alfrouh insisted he did not say that, and when the tape was checked, an alternative translation which did not contain that passage was provided for the jury.

He was also translated as telling police he "tried to" kiss the girl who was with Mr Badreddin, but this interpretation was changed to "wanted to" kiss her, and that he stopped himself.

Later the judge was to tell the jury the cause of the delays was that the police interviews needed to be re-interpreted because errors had been made - "some of them minor, some of them major".

In her closing speech, barrister Sue Hirst, for Mr Alfrouh said:

As the forewoman returned the not guilty verdicts on the three, the young defendants burst into tears.

After they left the dock, they wept and hugged each other and family members in the corridor outside.

There was controversy about the case with Northumbria Police facing media criticism that the force had not released details about the alleged attacks.

At the time, Northumbria Police said there had been no need for a witness appeal as the suspects were quickly arrested "and there was no danger to the wider public".

"Had we pro-actively released details of the incident then it could have frustrated our investigation."