Woman's glass attack conviction quashed

Miss Moore had an alibi for the night of the attack

A woman who was jailed for attacking another woman with a glass at a city centre bar has had her conviction overturned on appeal.

Michelle Moore, 25, of Prestwich, Greater Manchester, was jailed for three years at Liverpool Crown Court in October 2002 for causing grievous bodily harm to Rachel Franks.

But she broke down in tears on Monday as the Court of Appeal declared her conviction was "unsafe" after a series of mistakes by her defence team in relation to her alibi.

She had said she was at her mother's pub in Prestwich rather than at The Square bar in Manchester city centre where the attack took place in May 2000.

Identity parade

Ms Franks was scarred for life after the attack in which she suffered a four-inch cut to her cheek and a cut under her eye.

The incident sparked Greater Manchester Police's high-profile City Centre Safe campaign, in which bars and clubs were urged to use shatterproof glasses.

Miss Moore, of Rainsough Brow, was convicted at her third trial after being picked out in an identity parade by Ms Franks and her friend.

But Mr Justice Holman said facts about her alibi had since emerged which made it "inconceivable" the trial judge would not have directed the jury differently.

Lord Justice Buxton rejected a Crown application for Miss Moore to face a fourth trial.