A CARE worker at a children’s home who was jailed for eight years for sexually abusing two teenage boys had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal yesterday.

However, Anver Daud Sheikh, 53, who was convicted and jailed by York Crown Court in 2002 for offences dating back more than 20 years, was told that he may be retried.

Lord Justice Kennedy adjourned the case until next month, when the court will consider fresh interviews with the alleged victims — to be taken on video by a senior police officer — before deciding if the case should go before a new jury.

Lawyers who have formed the specialist Historical Abuse Appeal Panel to fight miscarriages of justice resulting from care home investigations, said after the hearing that there were up to 200 cases in which people had been falsely convicted, some of whom may now appeal against their sentences.

Mark Newby, Mr Sheikh’s solicitor and director of the newly formed panel, attributed the miscarriages to the compensation culture and to police methods.

Mr Sheikh, who is married with four children, emerged from the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday to be greeted by his family. He said that it took “a few short minutes” on May 9, 2002, for a judge to send him to prison. “Today, happily, it took Lord Justice Kennedy a similar time to give me back my freedom for a crime I did not commit.

“As I walk out before you I have very mixed feelings. I am elated to be going home and want to thank a lot of people for ensuring this happened.”

Mr Sheikh, from Leicester, added: “As I leave today to restart my life, which was ripped away from me 20 months ago, my thoughts rest with many other men and women who I know have been wrongly convicted.

“A large number of these will be visiting the Court of Appeal soon and I trust may enjoy a similar day to me.”

Mr Sheikh, who served in the Army as a sergeant, was found guilty by a jury of indecently assaulting the two teenagers while working as a housemaster at the care home in North Yorkshire in 1980.

At the Court of Appeal, Julian Goose, QC, for the prosecution, conceded that his conviction was unsafe but sought an order from Lord Justice Kennedy, sitting with Mr Justice Penry-Davey and Mr Justice Hedley, for a retrial.

Mark Barlow, for Mr Sheikh, opposing the application, told the judges the Crown was “going to have another bite of the cherry to convict this man”.

The case against Mr Sheikh at York Crown Court was supported by the allegations of people who were in his care at the time. However, the appeal court was told that a dispute had arisen about the overlap of the 12 months he was at the home and the time spent there by the two alleged victims. Mr Sheikh’s defence was that the offences described had simply not occurred.

According to some estimates there are 200 former professionals — including care workers, teachers and others — in prison, all of whom argue that they have been wrongly convicted in historical abuse cases. In the wake of Mr Sheikh’s case, a spokesman for the Criminal Cases Review Commission said that talks were continuing with solicitors from the Historic Abuse Appeal Panel. He said that through a process of sharing information — for example, examining the credibility of witnesses — some of these cases could end up at the commission.

“Some of these cases have not been to the appeal court yet,” he said. “Mr Sheikh was making his first appearance. We wouldn’t look at a case until an appeal has been refused.”

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