A MAN found guilty of a sex attack on a 55-year-old housewife has had his conviction overturned – because he was questioned by police without a solicitor.

Mark Chamberlain- Davidson is among those who have benefited from the so-called "Cadder ruling" by the Supreme Court, out-lawing interviews with suspects who have not been given access to a lawyer.

Although the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh made its decision at an earlier hearing, the decision was only published yesterday.

In June 2006 Chamberlain-Davidson was found guilty of assault with intent to rape.

A jury heard that the previous July a woman was walking round Castletown Harbour, Caithness.

Chamberlain-Davidson was said to have grabbed his victim by the wrists, clapped a hand over her mouth to silence her screams and demanded sex.

The jury rejected his claim that he had only said "hello" to the woman before she began screaming and that he had only held her wrists to restrain her. He denied any sexual motive but was jailed for 18 months.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates possible miscarriages of justice, took up his case after the Cadder ruling.

At a hearing before Lord Eassie, sitting with Lord Menzies and Lady Smith, the Crown conceded that without the evidence obtained when Chamberlain-Davidson was interviewed, there would not have been enough to convict him.