Acquittals on some counts due to doubts about the complainant's evidence on dates do not necessarily render guilty verdicts on other counts unsafe, particularly where the earlier counts involve a different time period and the evidence on those counts does not disclose troubling improbabilities. A trial direction that uncharged acts evidence is merely 'background material' providing a 'setting' for the charges has High Court authority against it in Gipp, though the application of Gipp remains uncertain. For indecent dealing offences at the lower end of the scale involving an elderly offender with no prior history and low reoffending risk, a sentence of 6 months imprisonment suspended after 2 months may be appropriate.
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