In the spotlight: Jakub Tomczak

On the night of July 22, 2006, 48-year-old Jane H was attacked in the street, severely beaten and raped. The assaulter pushed her under a nearby car and left her unconscious. It took her several months to recover.

Closed circuit camera footage showed that Jane H had been followed before the attack. According to the prosecutor and the testimony of a forensic expert, Jakub Tomczak was the person following her.

Tomczak was doing a summer job at a hotel in Exeter at the time. On the same night as the assault, he went to a disco with a group of friends. According to his testimony, he left the group in order to buy cigarettes and returned home after that.

Tomczak returned to Poland in the autumn. In November 2006, he was asked to provide a DNA sample for the investigation and he agreed. The DNA was then analyzed twice. The first analysis did not reveal any similarities between his DNA and evidence found on the victim, but the second analysis did.

Tomczak was arrested in February 2007, handed over to the British police under a European Arrest Warrant and taken to jail in April 2007.

Questions have arisen, however, about the reliability of the DNA evidence. Tomczak's DNA was not found on the victim's clothes or purse and blood found on the victim's face did not match his either. The man on the camera footage was also dressed differently to what Tomczak was reported to have been wearing that night.

Following the arrest, Tomczak's family and friends have organized numerous protests, and founded a website called www.whyjakub.com.

Tomczak's trial came to an end last week. The 12-member jury was expected to deliver the verdict this Monday.