Athlete's ex-lover loses legal challenge

Chris Cotter had denied staging the attack

The former boyfriend of athlete Ashia Hansen, jailed for faking a race attack on himself, has lost his appeal against conviction.

Chris Cotter, 29, was jailed for two years in June last year for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

It is understood he was released after serving 10 months.

Cotter's friends Surjit Singh Clair and Craig Wynn, who were also jailed for two years on the same charge, have also lost their legal challenge.

Ashia Hansen is training for the Commonwealth games

The appeal was heard at the High Court before Lord Justice Latham, Mr Justice Goldring and Judge Mettyear earlier this month.

The grounds for the appeal included an argument that the facts were insufficient to justify a charge of perverting the course of justice, and that the judge misdirected the jury as to the necessary intent for the crime.

The judges reserved judgement, but on Friday dismissed the appeal.

The trio now have to persuade the Law Lords to let them take the case further.

Last June, Birmingham Crown Court heard how Cotter, a former long jumper, fabricated the attack outside Ms Hansen's home to rekindle his romance with her and sell his account of it to help pay off debts of £25,000.

The defence had maintained the attack, in which Cotter was stabbed three times in the back and slashed across the forehead, was committed by a gang of men who objected to his relationship with a black athlete.

Cotter, formerly of Trigo Croft, Bromford, Birmingham; Wynn, of Kings Road, Kingstanding; and Clair, of Dalton Road, Reedswood, Walsall, had all denied the charges.

Ashia Hansen is currently in training to defend her Commonwealth triple-jumping crown in Manchester later this year.