A MAN who spent more than three years in jail for a crime he insists he did not commit is hoping a blurry photograph will clear his name.

Stephen Rodger was convicted of possessing a firearm and causing fear and alarm in September 2013 after a majority of jurors found him guilty at trial.

However evidence which was missed at his original hearing has now been found which the 51-year-old argues shows his innocence, along with another man who was also convicted.

Glasgow Times:

His case has now been deemed a potential miscarriage of justice by the Scottish Criminal Case Review Commission (SCCRC) and referred back to the High Court for appeal, which is being heard today.

Stephen and his friend were both sentenced to five years behind bars after witnesses said they were threatened with a gun in Yorkhill on April 29, 2013.

The pair had been driving to a local supermarket when they ended up behind a car they had spotted circling the area.

Stephen explained: “It was driving around for hours, and we saw people taking pictures of us inside the car.

“It was weird, and when we ended up behind it, my friend said he was going to take a picture of the registration as it was acting strangely.

“We didn’t think anything more of it until firearms cops burst through my door the next morning.”

Unbeknown to Stephen, the people in the car in front had contacted the police, claiming they had seen a gun and a masked man brandishing it at them through the windscreen.

Stephen’s house in Yorkhill was searched, but no firearm was recovered, nor was any gunpowder residue found on his friend who was the supposed carrier of the weapon.

Glasgow Times:

When the pair tried to explain it had been a mobile phone that was held up, and it should be checked for images of the car in front’s registration, Stephen said they were not listened to both by prosecutors and their own lawyers.

It wasn’t until 2016, when Stephen was released from prison and requested the Blackberry that he found the photograph.

It was the last one to be taken - at 10.05pm on April 29, 2013.

Since his release he is also being helped by Glasgow’s Miscarriages of Justice Organisation (MOJO), which helps people across the country who believe they were wrongfully convicted.

In a report by the Scottish Criminal Case Review Commission (SCCRC), it acknowledges that the police had been asked to check the phone for images when Stephen and his friend first asked for a review in 2015.

It states: “[The police officer] reviewed the intelligence download of the Blackberry phone...particularly in relation to photographs/videos taken from inside a motor vehicle, potentially the rear of a vehicle.”

The officer’s response was that he found “1686 pictures – none of inside a car or rear of a car”, according to the SCCRC report.

Stephen said: “It makes you lose trust in everything. I don’t know how this was missed, and why it took almost four years to find when it was on that phone all along.

“I shouldn’t have had to find that. Why did the police not find it?

They were asked to look on the phone.

“This whole thing been like a millstone round my neck for almost five years now, but I’m like a dog with a bone when I know something is wrong.”

He continued: “I’ve fought for this and done all this work to prove my innocence and I’m hopeful that will happen.”

Stephen, who has been diagnosed with PTSD since his release from jail, will today have his appeal heard before two of the country’s most senior judges.

He is arguing he received defective representation from his lawyer during the original trial, as he did not request for the phone to be examined.

His friend is still trying to appeal his conviction, having been released before Christmas.

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: "As a complaint has been received, it would be inappropriate to comment at this time." 

Stephen's original trial lawyer Iain Bradley said he could not comment on the defective representation claim" beyond stating that the claim is ill - founded."