A MAN who endured a 20-year nightmare after being falsely accused of abusing a schoolgirl was the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice, a top judge has said.

Ian Henderson, 47, could receive substantial compensation for serving two years in jail after his alleged victim, Carrie Crownshaw, from Luton, falsely accused him of indecently assaulting her when she was 14.

The father-of-three from Stanmore was convicted of indecent assault in July 1990 and was given a three-year sentence, later cut to two years on appeal.

But almost 20 years after her evidence saw him jailed, Crownshaw confessed to police that the abuse accusations against Mr Henderson were not true, adding that her 'sense of guilt' had driven her to come clean.

Crownshaw, 34, was given a suspended sentence in May after being prosecuted for perverting the course of justice.

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, sitting with Mr Justice Griffith-Williams and Mrs Justice Sharp in London's Appeal Court, said Mr Henderson's conviction would have continued had she not confessed, but added that the claim had damaged a man's life.

He said: "The entire story emerged because of her sense of guilt. There could be no more public a statement that the allegation against this man was false than her confession. And so we have an unsafe conviction, and an innocent man who served a prison sentence, and whose subsequent life and relationships have been blighted.

"It is a serious miscarriage of justice. It has taken 20 years for it to be recognised, and that's too long."

The indecent assault conviction was expunged by the court and, after the short hearing, Mr Henderson said: "[It is as if] a heavy chain has been lifted from around my neck.

"It felt like the anchor of the Titanic."

He said much of the past 20 years had been a 'living nightmare', haunted by the fear that people were 'looking at him' because of the stain on his name.

The court heard that while behind bars he was forced to serve his time with sex offenders and that a substantial payout was inevitable.