Convicted rapist wrongly freed from prison claims he warned guards it was a mistake

A convicted rapist who escaped British justice claims he told guards “it’s a mistake” as he was wrongfully released from prison.

48-year-old Bernadin Dedic was detained to await trial for allegedly raping a woman multiple times at knifepoint in February this year.

A few hours after being released from HMP Wormwood Scrubs, Dedic took a Eurostar from the UK when the prison was mistakenly told he had been released on bail.

Speaking to the Press Association, Dedic said that he knew at the time that the judge would not grant him bail and that he tried to persuade the prison to allow him to stay.

“They told me I was released,” he said. “I said: ‘Let me stay for the weekend, it’s a mistake.’ But they threw me out.”

Dedic was arrested last September on suspicion of rape and was held in custody to await a hearing scheduled for March.

An official at Isleworth Crown Court mistakenly went through the digital case files after the hearing on February 6 and mistakenly concluded Dedic had been granted bail in a message later forwarded to the prison.

Dedic said his legal team had previously tried and failed to get him bail, including an offer of £80,000 bail, as well as conditions that he live at a friend’s house in Milton Keynes, not enter London and report regularly to the police.

Dedic said he called his lawyers and also spoke to friends when he was released from West London prison.

Your friends all told me that there was no fair trial, go try it from there.

The father of two, who has home and business interests in the UK, returned to his native Bosnia and did not return for the hearing in March; Initially, he sent messages through his lawyers stating that he was having problems obtaining a visa.

When travel difficulties were eliminated thanks to the intervention of the police, the judge and the Border Force, Dedic said that he could not fly because he injured his knee in a skiing accident.

The hearing, which was rescheduled in June, continued without Dedic after he sent messages saying he was experiencing chest pains on the way to the airport.

In his absence, jurors found Dedic guilty of four counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault by penetration, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, threatening a person with a knife while in a private place, and threatening to kill.

Asked if he planned to return to London for sentencing, Dedic said: “No.”

Dedic, who pleaded not guilty to all charges before fleeing England, said that he did not want to go to prison and claimed that he could not return by plane due to his fear of closed spaces.

The trial heard evidence that Dedic drank red wine and snorted cocaine before holding the victim at knifepoint, cutting off her clothes and threatening to kill her and herself.

“She was horrified and ready to do whatever he said,” prosecutor Simon Sandford said of the sexual assaults that followed.

Judge Hannah Duncan concluded Dedic was “far from satisfied that he had suffered a heart attack” when she ordered a hearing in his absence.

He said: “This is yet another attempt by Mr Dedic to obstruct, manipulate and obstruct justice.”

The Ministry of Justice said it would make changes following Dame Lynne Owens’ independent review into the problem of inadvertent release of prisoners.

The review hearing on Dedic’s case is planned to be held on July 7. The date of sentencing has not yet been determined.