Court overturns banker's 2015 Libor rigging conviction

Tom Hayes, the first banker jailed over the Libor interest rate-rigging scandal in 2015, has cleared his name after the supreme court overturned a decade-old conviction against the former UBS and Citigroup trader.

- Kalyeena Makortoff

A panel of five justices, led by Lord Reed, concluded yesterday that the judge in Hayes's original hearing 10 years ago had given "inaccurate and unfair" instructions to the jury who found him guilty on several charges of conspiracy to defraud. This meant he was deprived of a fair trial.

The judges stopped short of fully exonerating Hayes, saying there was "ample evidence" that could have led a jury, if properly directed, to find him guilty. "But the jury was not properly directed," the ruling explained, adding: "The convictions are therefore unsafe and cannot stand."

The judgment, which follows a three-day hearing in March, ends a long legal battle for the 45-year-old and could lead to several other convictions being quashed in the UK. The ruling is also a blow for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which brought the original charges. It said it would not be seeking a retrial.