Dennis Humble, a 68-year-old man accused of raping two women with ‘significant learning disabilities’ heard that the case against him had been dropped on Tuesday, April 10th.

Mr Humble appeared via video link at the Royal Court, Jersey to hear that the Crown was offering no evidence to support the historic allegations which had been made against him. Mr Humble had been accused of raping one woman twice and the other once.

Speaking after the hearing, Mr Humble’s defence counsel, Advocate Howard Sharp QC, said: “Mr Humble is a man of impeccable good character and has spent his whole life working with adults with learning difficulties.

“He has always denied the allegations and voluntarily attended a police interview in the UK when he answered questions.”

Advocate Sharp added that neither the prosecution nor the police had explained "why they did nothing to progress this matter between the end of 2013 and the start of 2017".

Addressing the court, Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit said that it was "with regret" that the Crown had taken the view not to continue with the case.

However, after the court decided at an earlier hearing that it would not accept a pre-recorded video or a written statement from one of the complainants, he said that it was decided not to proceed.

“Without the first complainant’s evidence the prospect of conviction is undoubtedly weakened, to the extent there is no realistic prospect of conviction," Advocate Maletroit said.

Deputy Bailiff Tim Le Cocq told Mr Humble he was discharged from the proceedings and directed the Viscount to return his passport.

A hearing to determine defence costs is due to be held at a future date.

Jurats Anthony Olsen and Sally Sparrow were sitting.The Attorney General later published a statement giving the reasons why the Crown was offering no evidence.

Antony Lowther, a friend of Dennis Humble and Chair of EnviroAbility told the Ross Gazette that he is delighted that charges of rape against Mr Humble have been dropped.

He said:?“We are so delighted that the charges against Dennis have finally been dropped. When the accusations were first raised Dennis immediately offered to step down from the Board of EnviroAbility. Taking up his offer was one of the most miserable things I have ever had to do in my life as it felt that the concept of “innocent until proven guilty” had been turned on its head. You can therefore imagine my delight that we will be welcoming Dennis back to the Board of EnviroAbility where he can get back to helping the service users of EnviroAbility and the Ross community in general.”