A man who spent a year in jail for a bank robbery he never committed has dramatically walked free from court.

William Mills, 42, was cleared at the Court of Criminal Appeal on Thursday. His conviction was quashed after new DNA evidence proved his innocence.

A senior judge added it was "a matter of concern" that a key part of the prosecution case against Mr Mills was two police officers identifying him as the robber from CCTV stills.

The Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Gill, said at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh: "The new evidence confirms all of our reservations about this conviction. We agree that there is clearly reasonable doubt." He told an emotional Mr Mills: "We conclude that there has been a miscarriage of justice and allow the appeal. You are free to go."

After he left court, Mr Mills said: "I am just delighted with what has happened. I have been found innocent of a crime I never committed. Justice has prevailed".

RESOURCE

See an extended interview with William Mills and his partner Toni Springfellow

Mr Mills was jailed for nine years in August 2008 for the robbery. He was found guilty of carrying out a gun raid on a Royal Bank of Scotland branch in Glasgow's Dumbarton Road on May 24, 2007.

The masked robber pointed a handgun at staff and customers in the branch and demanded cash before getting away with £8,216. Mr Mills, of Partick, in Glasgow, had always denied the offence, claiming he was home at the time. In his defence, he incriminated another man - convicted criminal Michael Absalom - for the robbery.

POLICE EVIDENCE

At his trial at the High Court in Glasgow, the Crown relied on identification evidence from eyewitnesses and from police officers who viewed CCTV stills. Several witnesses, on the other hand, also testified that the robber spoke with a foreign accent, with two saying he sounded South African.

However, the jury convicted Mr Mills on a majority verdict. Following his conviction, fresh evidence emerged after a crucial re-examination of DNA analysis on a door stop recovered at the robbery scene by police.

Advocate depute Paul Kearney told the appeal court that DNA testing was carried out on the door stop prior to the trial beginning and three sources were found, but not Mr Mills. He said that after the conviction Mr Mills instructed a new solicitor to appeal against it and after further information was provided it was agreed to carry out further analysis.

"Once this was carried out the DNA from Mr Absalom was confirmed as being on the door stop," he said. The advocate depute said there was a one in 540 million chance of it coming from someone else. Mr Kearney said although there had been identification of Mr Mills at trial other factors limited the value of the evidence, such as the quality of the CCTV images and that the robber had his face partially covered.

Absalom was called as a defence witness at Mr Mills' trial and was given a warning over self-incrimination by the trial judge Rita Rae QC. He confirmed he was currently serving a sentence for bank robberies using a gun. He confirmed his accent was South African, but chose not to answer questions over the raid on the RBS branch.

Former events manager Absalom, 38, was jailed for eight and a half years last year for robbing an American Express office in Hope Street, Glasgow, and an RBS branch in Troon, in Ayrshire.