LAWYERS for Michael Haslam are considering their next moves in a long-running libel action, following a court's decision to quash the retired York psychiatrist's conviction for raping a patient.

Haslam served a writ against the Sunday Times in 2000 over an article in which he was reported to have been accused of serial rape, but the case has never been decided.

He was convicted at Leeds Crown Court in December of raping a patient in a photocopying room at Clifton Hospital in 1988. At that time, the court was told he faced financial ruin in relation to the libel action. As reported yesterday in later editions of the Evening Press, the Court of Appeal has ruled that the rape conviction was unsafe, although it upheld four other convictions for indecent assault against three patients in the 1980s.

Judges said the trial jury should not have been allowed to hear evidence from another patient, who said she had sat on Dr Haslam's knee in the photocopying room and been kissed by him. It said the evidence was irrelevant and had prejudiced his defence.

The court refused a prosecution plea for the rape charge to be retried, on the grounds of his advancing years and the prejudicial impact of so many years having passed since the alleged attack.

The ruling means that Haslam, 70, of Crayke, near Easingwold, will now serve only three years in jail instead of seven, and should be released by the middle of next year.

An inquiry into the way complaints against Haslam were handled by the NHS is continuing, with oral hearings due to get under way next month.

John Howard, solicitor for Haslam, said his family was delighted with the court's decision in relation to the rape allegation.

"This confirms their faith in the British justice system. Their delight is tinged with sadness that Haslam is not to return home just yet."

Asked about the implications of the court's decision for the libel action, another solicitor for Haslam, Philip Chapman, of Mitchells solicitors in York, said he would need to speak to his client about their next step.

But he said the Sunday Times had accused Haslam of serial rape, and following the Court of Appeal hearing, he was innocent of that charge.

Lawyers for the Sunday Times were unavailable for comment.

Updated: 10:43 Friday, May 21, 2004