A man has been awarded €23,000 in compensation for spending more than a year in jail based on a false claim that he sexually molested his underage daughter.

The award was granted in an appeal court judgment overturning a previous court's decision not to grant compensation.

Emmanuel Camilleri spent a total of 397 days behind bars and was listed on the sex offenders' register after being found guilty in 2011 of defiling his daughter. Two years later, that conviction was confirmed on appeal.

But it turned out to be based on a lie, with his daughter subsequently admitting that she had spun the tale about being sexually molested after being spurred on by her mother.

In 2016, the First Hall, Civil Court, in its constitutional jurisdiction, quashed the conviction. That decision was confirmed a year later by the Constitutional Court on appeal. 

Mr Camilleri’s daughter was found guilty of giving false testimony in 2015.

Her father then filed another case claiming compensation from the state for the wrongful conviction.

But his claim was rejected, with the court saying that Camilleri’s injustice stemmed from wrongdoing committed by a private individual, namely his daughter.

Camilleri appealed and the court on Thursday overturned that decision.

The court, presided over by Mr Justices Anthony Ellul, Robert Mangion and Toni Abela, ruled that although it was true that the injustice Camilleri had suffered was because of his daughter’s false testimony, she was later found guilty of giving false evidence.

This, the court said, was a new fact which showed there had been a miscarriage of justice.

It awarded Camilleri €23,293.73 in compensation.

Camilleri was represented by lawyer Tonio Azzopardi.