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| Woman cleared of judge blackmail | Woman cleared of judge blackmail |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| A cleaner has been cleared of stealing two sex videos from a male judge and blackmailing a female judge. | |
| Roselane Driza, 37, was jailed for 33 months in October 2006 after being convicted of blackmail and theft. | Roselane Driza, 37, was jailed for 33 months in October 2006 after being convicted of blackmail and theft. |
| She later won an appeal against her convictions and was told she faced a retrial which was due to begin next month. | |
| But at a pre-trial hearing at the Old Bailey the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to proceed with the case. | But at a pre-trial hearing at the Old Bailey the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to proceed with the case. |
| Brazilian Ms Driza, of South Norwood, south London, was sentenced last October for stealing videos from her lover, Judge Mohammed Ilyas Khan, and for blackmailing a female judge, known as Judge J, for £20,000. | |
| But on appeal she was cleared of blackmailing 61-year-old Judge Khan, with whom she had an affair and had been living with until her arrest. | |
| Justice has been done Roselane Driza | |
| The exact grounds for appeal cannot be reported except that it was on the basis of new evidence. | |
| Both judges had both been employing Driza illegally. | |
| Following the first trial, an investigation was ordered into the behaviour of the immigration judges by the Office of Judicial Complaints. | |
| After Friday's hearing at the old Bailey, Miss Driza said outside court : "Justice has been done. I am very happy and very proud of God." | |
| She added she is no longer a cleaner and has been unemployed for two years while her visa application is considered by the home office. | |
| Her counsel, Frances Oldham QC told the court: "Miss Driza has been vilified by the Crown as a blackmailer. | |
| "She has never accepted that she is anything other than innocent of these matters." | |
| Earlier prosecution told the court that there had been "a number of significant developments in this case". | |
| It said both prosecution witnesses, J and Judge Khan, have both been ill and there is nor prospect of them taking the stand "at a trial in August or possibly ever." | |
| Asked by the judge if the decision not to proceed had been made from medical evidence, the prosecution said: "Yes, from medical material." |