DRAMATIC new evidence in the Owen Oyston rape case could lead to the early release of the convicted tycoon by the High Court later this year.

The 63-year-old businessman and former chairman of Blackpool Football Club was sentenced to six years in prison after a jury found him guilty of rape and indecent assault on an ex-model when she was just 16.

Oyston was arrested and held in custody at Altrincham Police Station during a lengthy investigation by detectives and the Family Support Unit in 1994.

Sale model-boss Peter Martin - who was alleged to have provided girls for Oyston - was tried at a later date and also convicted of several rapes.

But Oyston's lawyers say they have unearthed fresh information regarding a greeting card which was used in evidence during the follow-up trial of Peter Martin.

Legal representatives of the multi-millionaire property magnate, serving his time in Wymott Prison, believe they have refuted the greeting card evidence on the grounds the company had not even printed them at the time the victim says it was sent.

The timing of the card was vital to the case because it set the tone of the relationship between Oyston and the victim.

At Martin's trial the girl swore under oath that the card was written and sent in January, 1992. But it has now been alleged that the manufacturers had not printed the greeting card until June, 1992, and did not distribute them until a month later.

Lawyers for Oyston's appeal claim to have obtained affidavits from the card printers which totally rebut the girl's testimony in the Martin trial.

Oyston, said to be worth more than £30 million, recently won leave to appeal in the High Court and Lord Chief Justice Bingham has called for an early appeal date to prevent him being kept in prison longer than necessary if he is proved innocent.

He has consistently denied the charges, saying he believes the case against him was the result of a conspiracy. While serving his jail term his wife, Vicki Oyston, has taken over his business interests.

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