'Year of hell' in a split-second
A man brushes past a woman, their shoulders colliding briefly. It ruins his life.
A walk through one of the busiest train stations in the UK changed Mark Pearson's life forever.
It took him just half a second to pass an award-winning actress in her 60s but that was enough for prosecutors to charge with him sexual assault.
When the case finally got to court, a jury needed only 90 minutes to reject the allegations, but by then the damage had been done to Pearson, a 51-year-old artist and picture framer.
It was claimed he assaulted the TV, theatre and radio actress penetratively for "two or three seconds" as he walked past her at London's Waterloo station, before landing a heavy blow to her left shoulder as he pushed past her, The Telegraph reported.
CCTV footage could not establish if Pearson and the woman, who can not be named for legal reasons, made physical contact as they walked quickly past each other. A forensic expert for the defence told Blackfriars Crown Court Pearson had passed the actress in half a second, saying any assault was a logistical impossibility.
Specialist CCTV forensic expert Jacob Blythe showed Pearson was carrying a newspaper in his left hand - the one he was alleged to have used in the assault - and holding his bag in his right.
The Telegraph said the case raised more questions about the decision-making in sexual assault cases by Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), in particular pressing ahead with improperly investigated prosecutions with gaping holes in the evidence.
In Pearson's case, the woman failed to pick him out of an identity parade, there was no forensic evidence, and there were no witnesses despite the train station being crowded with commuters.
The actress was wearing a coat and jacket and a thin dress over "training pants" following a yoga class.