IMPROVEMENTS in forensic science over the years have led to some remarkable results in criminal investigations, but few more dramatic than in the case of former Hereford soldier Richard Simmons.

Back in 1985 he had been convicted of killing a young woman in Lubbecke, Germany, a charge he always vehemently denied, and sentenced to life imprisonment with at least 15 years behind bars.

The prosecution maintained that Simmons, then a driver with The Royal Corps of Transport, had been identified leaving a night club with a girl who was later found murdered. As he was the last person to be seen with her, the authorities assumed he was the killer.

However Simmons side of the story was that on their way home they met a man the girl knew and she walked off into the dark with him. He then made his way back to camp alone.

But the court didn’t believe him and, as the saying goes, he was banged up abroad. When he lost an appeal all hope seemed gone, until seven years later a German lawyer came across his case and decided to take another look. After examining all the evidence, he believed the British soldier was an innocent man.

Since the original investigation in the mid-80s there had been tremendous strides in DNA testing and these were called upon to prove Simmons could not have been the killer.

So after eight-and-a-half years in a foreign prison cell with a bleak future ahead, he walked free.

The case caused a sensation in Germany because the 33-year-old former soldier became only the third man since 1945 to successfully win a retrial there. The Press were waiting outside the prison gates and ex-Private Simmons was headline news.

 However, the return to his sister’s home in Hereford in March 1994 presented some unusual problems. It put him in a country and among people that were almost alien, for after nearly a decade locked away, he was fluent in German but hesitant in English.

“I just want to get my head sorted and used to speaking English again,” he said.

 His sister Catherine Miles had always stood by him and believed in his innocence, but Simmons was bitter at his treatment by the Army and British consular officials.

He said: “The Army authorities didn’t do a thing for me. They didn’t inform me of my rights, they didn’t even get me a lawyer, that  came from the court.

"I spent 235 days in military custody but no-one told me anything. Because I was a private and not an officer, I was just handed over. Now I’m in a no-man’s land. I’ve got to sort out a new passport and get me some kind of a job.

 “For the last couple of weeks all I have been doing is celebrating and giving interviews. I still didn’t believe it, even when I was talking to reporters outside the prison. Part of me said ‘You’re free’, but another part said ‘Take it easy, you’re going to wake up in a minute’.” 

But thanks to DNA Richard Simmons was living the dream.