A JUDGE has criticised flaws in a police investigation saying the service “should be ashamed” of the way the case was handled.

District Judge John Wollard dismissed an assault by beating charge against Lauren Wiles following an incident near the Albert roundabout in Cowdray Avenue, Colchester.

Francis Byrne was in his car with his daughter and two granddaughters when he was punched in the face by an angry woman who had been driving behind him in a black Vauxhall Corsa.

Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard Mr Byrne spotted the car’s some two months later on a Facebook selling page and linked it to the woman he believed attacked him.

The information was made available to the police but was never followed up, the court heard.

Mr Byrne recounted the attack in court saying: “When we came to a complete standstill is when she got out of her car. She was shouting at me.

“I couldn’t understand what she was saying and as she got closer I flicked the electric window button to wind the window down and she punched me.”

Two other drivers stopped and Mr Byrne gave an initial witness statement a traffic police office but neither the prosecutor or defence solicitor knew anything about this statement.

Mr Byrne’s first witness statement to police was made five weeks after the incident.

An identity parade also took place five months after the assault.

Mr Byrne identified Ms Wiles but defence solicitor Dan Taylor challenged whether he had “put two and two together and got five”.

Both Mr Taylor and Judge Wollard agreed his witness evidence could have been affected by seeing photos of Ms Wiles on social media.

Ms Wiles, 19, of Venture Chase, Colchester, denied the charge and the charges against her were dropped.

District Judge Wollard said the police had “broken every rule in the book” and “should be ashamed of their case”.

He also apologised to Mr Byrne for how the police investigated the case “because it did not do proper justice to the matter”.

This is how Essex Police responded to the allegations:

A spokesman said: “Essex Police has reviewed this case and while regrettably the evidence supplied to the Crown Prosecution Service did not lead to a conviction, we are satisfied our officers acted accordingly and promptly throughout this investigation.

"The incident on October 31 2016, was crimed as a common assault through our Crime Bureau before it was allocated to an officer for investigation. 

"Details from all people present were taken and enquiries conducted at the scene, however, the suspect had left the scene and there was no available CCTV in the area to assist in identification.

"Enquiries remained ongoing and in January 2017, we received additional information from the victim, which enabled officers to pursuit a potential suspect.

"Officers arranged an interview with the suspect and in compliance with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 identification procedures were undertaken and an identification parade was completed.

"The suspect was identified through this procedure and charged with the file passed over to the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration."