Hoogstraten walks free

One of Britain's most notorious property barons, who was jailed for killing a business rival, was set free today after winning a legal battle to clear his name.

Nicholas van Hoogstraten had served a year in prison after being convicted of the manslaughter of father-of-six Mohammed Raja.

He left the Old Bailey today with his lawyers after the Court of Appeal agreed that the prosecution's case against him did not stand up legally.

The man once described as Britain's youngest millionaire may now consider suing for wrongful imprisonment.

Hoogstraten, 58, from Uckfield, East Sussex, had been cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter of Mr Raja at the Old Bailey last year. He was jailed for 10 years.

He won the right to a retrial when his conviction was quashed in July by the Court of Appeal.

His lawyers had successfully argued that Hoogstraten's conviction last year was unsafe.

Hoogstraten's defence team then went on to argue that there was no case left for him to answer at all. It had no basis in law. There was a complete lack of evidence on which a jury could convict.

He could not have foreseen that the attack on Mr Raja - carried out by henchmen Robert Knapp and David Croke - would inevitably end in death, they asserted.

Croke and Knapp had stabbed and shot the 62-year-old businessman at point blank range at his home in Sutton, south London, in July 1999.

Judge Sir Stephen Mitchell agreed with Hoogstraten's counsel Geoffrey Cox QC that there was no foundation for a manslaughter case against Hoogstraten.

He based his decision on a number of legal authorities and said: "If the act causing death was not foreseen, then it was an act for which the secondary party (allegedly Hoogstraten) could not be liable. There is no halfway house. If he is not liable, he is not guilty of murder or manslaughter.

"I have come to the conclusion that if the prosecution were successful in establishing the facts, those facts could not found a conviction of manslaughter."

But prosecutor David Waters QC immediately asked to seek leave to appeal against the judge's ruling - which was met with angry abuse from Hoogstraten.

Hoogstraten, who has convictions for violence and once described his tenants as "filth", shouted from the dock: "It's an absolute disgrace."

The judge told him: "I know this is very difficult for you, but you must not interrupt Mr Waters."

The judge allowed the prosecution to seek leave to appeal but the appeal court judges decided today that they had no jurisdiction.

They referred the matter back to Justice Mitchell who released Hoogstraten.