An inmate jailed for six years for stabbing another man has been released from prison after prosecutors decided not to pursue a retrial.

Donovan Kitching, who has consistently denied any 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, Appeal Judges Anthony Cross KC and Simon Farrell KC ruled Kitching’s conviction was ‘unsafe’.

The decision followed a detailed review of the trial process and the way evidence was presented to the jury.

At the Court of General Gaol on Friday, prosecutor Roger Kane told Deemster Graeme Cook the victim indicated he would refuse to give evidence at any retrial.

Mr Kane said: ‘The complainant is no longer onboard with this. He has made it clear he is no longer in support of any prosecution and without his evidence there is no reasonable prospect of a conviction in any retrial.’

Mr Kitching, 41, lodged an appeal shortly after the verdict more than two years ago. A permission hearing was held at the Court of Appeal in February this year, where he represented himself.

At that hearing, he argued the conviction was unsafe due to misrepresentation by his advocate, errors in the deemster’s summing-up, and improper judicial intervention.

The court allowed the appeal to proceed only on the grounds of errors in the summing-up and judicial intervention. Kitching’s claim of misrepresentation was dismissed.

After hearing from prosecutor Roger Kane, who was not involved in the original trial, and who accepted there were concerns about the case, the judges ruled without needing to hear further from Kitching, who again represented himself.

The case relates to an incident on August 19, 2023. The court previously heard the victim was lured to the Cinder Path in Douglas by Michael Glover, who has since been sentenced to 28 months in custody for his role in the attack.

The meeting was arranged under the pretext of a cannabis deal. The victim was allegedly threatened over a £10,000 drug debt and told he must agree a payment plan or face ‘consequences’.

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

The victim raised his hands to protect himself and was struck near the ear and on the hand. He sustained a 4cm cut to his left hand, which required six stitches, and a 1.5cm wound to his head.

Although the attacker wore a ski-type mask, the victim told the court at trial he recognised the assailant as Mr Kitching, a claim Mr Kitching disputed.

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