Central Park rape convicts cleared

The five men imprisoned in 1989 for the rape of a jogger in New York's Central Park had their convictions overturned yesterday after a serial rapist and murderer told police he was guilty.

The attack on a 28-year-old investment banker came to define a metropolis blighted by violence, and the videotaped confessions of the five - aged between 14 and 16 at the time - shocked the city.

The woman was severely beaten and left for dead.

But in an unexpectedly swift verdict yesterday which leaves the city open to lawsuits, the state supreme court judge Charles Tejada dismissed all charges against Antron McCray, Kharey Wise, Raymond Santana, Yusef Salaam and Kevin Richardson. All have completed their sentences.

Two weeks ago, the Manhattan district attorney Robert Morgenthau called for the convictions to be overturned after Matias Reyes, a convicted rapist and murderer, confessed to the crime. DNA evidence found on the victim was matched to him.

He told a TV interviewer earlier this year that it was time to tell the truth.

He said he was still a "monster" but prison counselling had prompted him to speak up.

Roger Wareham, a lawyer for three of the five, said two weeks ago: "They were children, kept separate from their parents, sleep-deprived, they weren't fed regularly, they were interrogated for 20 or more hours.

"All those factors certainly induce adults to make false statements."

But the verdict will infuriate New York police detectives who have vociferously denied claims that the confessions were obtained under duress.

"Everybody's talking about how the system let them down, but the system let us down - guys who worked round the clock to take special care to make sure the law was applied correctly," said Mike Sheehan, a former NYPD detective involved in the Central Park and Reyes cases. "They were really hoodwinked by this guy Reyes. This guy's a complete madman."