and charged with crimes that never took place (and were subsequently ordered abandoned by the Judge).

Trawling By Media kicked in... inaccurate and lurid coverage provoked other false or exaggerated claims.

And I ended up being wrongly convicted and given seven years in jail.

All over now... well, not quite. The European Court of Human Rights will hear my case next year and experts predict they will order the convictions quashed.

But it's the thousands of others who cannot afford the energy or resources to fight false allegations who I am battling for. Read the article on The Golden Compass in the Mail today Friday.

And how has all this affected me?

It's been brilliant, giving me experience, knowledge, insight and wisdom I never had before.

Then aged 56 and about to be 57, I'm now 62 about to be 63 and far happier, far richer, far wiser and far deeper in character than I was before all this happened.

So I raise a toast to November 23rd and wish suitable karma on all those who deserve it.

Hi JK

I cannot believe it has been seven years, how come it took them ten months to actually go to trial. That's not fair or anyone to endure. Goes to prove one vital thing, that they did not consider you a menace to society and had trouble initially getting a court to hear it.

Like I said on previous posts, that I do believe that you are not just battling to have your convictions overturned, but you all also providing hope to people who have been wrongly convicted and are rotting in prison having given up.

I do also believe that you are totally innocent of the charges and hope that justice is prevailed.

Amazing - only you JK could drink a toast to the day you were arrested.

It destroys others. It made you stronger.

Even those who hate you cant fail but admire you.

Throw enough mud till it sticks,and eventually just enough mud stuck to convince the jury.A classic case of 'no smoke without fire' reasoning.All fed by the lowest kind of tabloid journalism.Don't they just despise the sucess in others they cannot achieve for themselves?
Well the small bit of mud that stuck has dried now,and it's starting to crack...and will soon fall off;)
A credit to you JK.Dignity in the face of the establishment's derogatory and spiteful bitchyness.When justice comes,not only will it be sweet,but will serve as a beacon of hope for many others.Victims of injustice who have not the skills,or resources to fight themselves will at least see how the system can be beaten,and justice served.
Good luck to you,we're all behind you here:)

I remember watching the news the day JK was released after serving half his seven year sentence.
He looked as though he had just emerged from a long around the world holiday of a lifetime.
Smiling in front of the cameras and saying he loved every minute of his time inside for crimes he did not committ.
Love him or hate him, you have to admire him.

I always felt there was something sticky about what happened to you Jonathon and it was no coincidence it all happened just before new labour were forced to equalize the ages of consent by Europe.

I am certain they will throw out your conviction and by then new labour will be history anyway.

There are two sides to this. One is that Jonathan was able to smile in the face of adversity and defy those who locked him up. The other is that it played into the hands of those who claim that prisons are too cushy (none of them having been in one) and lobby to make prisons even more inhuman.

I'm not sure all this will give much hope to the wrongfully convicted, as without the energy and financial clout JK referred to, they will continue to rot in jail. You could argue that the right decision from the European courts could force the Government to make some long awaited changes to our flawed judicial system, but I am not convinced this is likely.

What it does do, though, is to teach us all that no amount of adversity is the end of the world. Hold your head up high, believe in yourself, find positivity in anything, and those who count will stay with you. Those who don't count don't matter.