A man convicted in absentia of rape after being mistakenly released from prison has claimed he told guards there had been an error at the time, but was pushed out of the facility regardless.
Bernadin Dedic, 48, was awaiting trial for raping a woman at knifepoint in his west London home when he was mistakenly freed from HMP Wormwood Scrubs on February 6. He travelled via Eurostar to his native Bosnia shortly afterward and did not return for his trial in June, where a jury convicted him in his absence of all charges against him.
Speaking to the Press Association, Dedic said he was aware at the time of his release that a mistake had been made and claimed he attempted to persuade prison staff to let him remain. “They told me I was released,” he said. “I said: ‘Let me stay the weekend, this is a mistake.’ But they pushed me out.”
The error occurred after an official at Isleworth Crown Court mixed up digital case files following a hearing and wrongly concluded that Dedic had been granted bail, information that was then passed on to the prison.
Dedic said that after his release, he contacted his lawyers and spoke with friends who advised him that he would not receive a fair trial and told him to “go away and try from there.” His legal team had previously attempted, unsuccessfully, to secure bail for him through other means, including an offer of an £80,000 surety.
Although Dedic’s UK passport had been seized by police during the rape investigation, he was able to travel using his Bosnian passport, which was not affected by the seizure. Eurostar said it does not have access to passengers’ criminal records and does not conduct border checks, noting that responsibility falls to the relevant border authorities.
Dedic gave several different explanations over the following months for why he could not return to the UK. He was originally due to stand trial in March but claimed through his lawyers that he was having difficulty obtaining a visa.
After that issue was resolved, he said he was unable to fly due to a knee injury sustained while skiing. Ahead of a rescheduled trial in June, he claimed he had suffered chest pains on the way to the airport.
Proceeding with the hearing in his absence, Judge Hannah Duncan said she was “far from convinced he has had a heart attack” and requested medical reports. Speaking to PA after his conviction, Dedic said he simply did not want to go to prison.
The court heard that Dedic had lured a woman into the basement of his home in Ealing, west London, where he threatened her with a knife and warned he would kill her if she screamed.
He then cut off her clothes and repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted her over several hours. Prosecutors told the court the attack occurred after Dedic had separated from his partner and during a period in which he had been drinking heavily and using cocaine.
On June 9, a jury found Dedic guilty of four counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault by penetration, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, threatening a person with a knife in a private place, and making a threat to kill. No sentencing date has yet been set. If Dedic fails to return for sentencing, UK authorities are likely to begin extradition proceedings.
His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service has launched an investigation into the circumstances of Dedic’s release. A spokesperson said: “We understand the distress errors such as this can cause to those affected and instances like this have exposed deep-rooted issues across the broken justice system the government inherited.”
The Ministry of Justice said it is working to improve what it described as “archaic” release systems in order to prevent further errors of this kind. The BBC has asked the MOJ to respond directly to Dedic’s claims that he alerted prison officers to the mistake before being released. A review of the case is scheduled to be heard on July 7.
