Appeal judges have set out in detail why they quashed the conviction that led to the release of stabbing accused Donovan Kitching.

In a judgment now published, Appeal Judges Anthony Cross KC and Simon Farrell KC said the credibility of victim Glenn Batty had not been properly addressed at trial, and that significant evidence which might have undermined his testimony had not been disclosed to the defence.

Batty was later convicted of supplying cocaine to Michael Glover, despite having claimed during the trial that he met Glover only to ‘buy some weed’. Although not convicted at that stage, Batty had been arrested two days before the trial – but that information was never made available to Deemster Graeme Cook and it is unclear, other than phone messages, what further evidence was disclosed to Kitching’s defence advocate. The judges said this failure went to the heart of the case, which had largely depended on Batty’s evidence.

Mr Kitching, who has consistently denied involvement in the attack, was convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm following a trial in May last year.

He was sentenced to six years in prison in October 2023, with a further six months for breaching a suspended sentence.

At a hearing in September, the appeal judges ruled the conviction was ‘unsafe’.

At the Court of General Gaol last week, prosecutor Roger Kane told Deemster Graeme Cook that the victim had indicated he would refuse to give evidence at any retrial. Without that evidence, there was ‘no reasonable prospect of a conviction’, meaning Kitching was released immediately.

Mr Kitching, 41, lodged an appeal shortly after the verdict more than two years ago. The court allowed the appeal to proceed only on grounds of errors in the summing-up and judicial intervention. His claim of misrepresentation was dismissed.

The judges have now published their full judgment explaining the decision to overturn the conviction.

Concerns were raised about how the relationship between Batty, Glover and Mr Kitching was presented at trial, and whether Batty had immediately identified Mr Kitching as his attacker to his father, who came to help him. Batty claimed he told his father that Kitching was the attacker, but his father did not mention this in evidence, raising further uncertainty about the reliability of that identification.

There were also concerns about the direction given to the jury regarding Glover’s role. Glover has since been sentenced to 28 months in custody for luring Batty to the meeting where the attack occurred.

However, the appeal judges said these matters alone would not have been sufficient to quash the conviction. The main issue, they said, was Batty’s credibility – particularly once it emerged he had lied about his reason for meeting Glover.

While Batty’s first court appearance was on July 23, 2024, after Mr Kitching’s trial, he had been arrested just two days before the trial began.

The judges said that Mr Connick should not have told the jury Batty was there to buy cannabis, as this later proved false.

Batty pleaded guilty to the cocaine supply offence in January 2025 and was sentenced to three years and four months in custody.

The judges also criticised defence advocate David Reynolds for not fully exploring Batty’s credibility issues in front of the jury, noting that this failure may have had a material impact on the verdict.

Their judgment stated: ‘We conclude there was simply no need for the Respondent [prosecution] to adopt the position that they did. Batty was plainly lying about who was supplying whom, and the jury should have been warned about that fact.

‘If the Respondent had disclosed that their witness’s credibility was in issue, the Deemster would have been bound to give a careful direction to the jury. This did not happen.’

In their conclusion, the judges wrote: ‘Our primary conclusion is that the events surrounding Batty’s conviction for supplying drugs render this conviction unsafe.

‘Batty’s credibility was in issue – although this might have been a peripheral issue had the Respondent dealt with it appropriately.

‘Ultimately, the main question for the jury depended on Batty’s credibility. This was affected by whether he told the truth about why he was at the meeting on the Cinder Path. The fact that this credibility issue was not exploited by Mr Reynolds is troubling.’

The case related to an incident on August 19, 2023. The court previously heard that Batty was lured to the Cinder Path in Douglas by Michael Glover, under the pretext of a cannabis deal that was later shown to be false.

Batty was allegedly threatened over a £10,000 drug debt and told to agree a repayment plan or face ‘consequences’.

He agreed to meet Glover at the Cinder Path, off Peel Road, to buy cannabis. There he was attacked by a masked man wielding an unidentified implement.

Batty raised his hands to protect himself and was struck near the ear and on the hand. He suffered a 4cm cut to his left hand, needing six stitches, and a 1.5cm wound to his head.

Although the attacker wore a ski-type mask, Batty told the court he recognised the assailant as Mr Kitching – a claim Mr Kitching has always disputed.

The victim fled down the path, pursued briefly by the attacker, who slipped and abandoned the chase. Batty ran to a nearby property on Ballakermeen Road, entered through an open garage and phoned his father to report he had been stabbed.

At court on Friday, after being told he would be released, Mr Kitching said: ‘I have been in prison for two years for something I did not do.’