and sexually assaulting her was a miscarriage of justice, a Supreme Court judge declared yesterday. Puisne Judge the Hon. Mr. Justice Ground then quashed the conviction of Andrew Robinson of Britain who was fired from the Police Service last year.

Last night Police spokesman Sgt. Chris Wilcox said it was not yet known whether Robinson would reapply for his former job.

In his judgment, Mr. Justice Ground heavily criticised Magistrates' Court procedures which dragged out the trial over eight months and 31 court appearance.

Lengthy delays, changing prosecutors, interruptions and disjointed hearings spread out over 31 court appearances covering a period of eight months deprived Robinson of a fair trial, he said. It took Magistrate the Wor.

Cheryl-Ann Mapp another four months to reach a verdict.

Such delays were "wholly inappropriate in a contested criminal matter'', Mr.

Justice Ground said.

"It is perhaps not surprising that the Magistrate failed to come to grips with the defence evidence. This trial was spread out over a period of some eight months. During this period the evidence was frequently interrupted or heard for short, disjointed sessions and eventually a different prosecuting counsel took over. While I appreciate the work load of the Magistrates' Court, it is not a question of whether the delays are explicable but of whether they are acceptable.

"It is not simply a question of delay but of fairness. Such dislocation stands to prejudice the possibility of a fair trial. The Magistrate is likely to lose sight of the issues, while the burden upon the accused is intolerable.'' Mr. Justice Ground also criticised the Magistrate for failing to adequately consider the defence evidence. She dismissed defence testimonies of three Police officers who claimed Robinson knew the alleged victim, as untruthful, without properly saying why.

The alleged victim, who has since left Bermuda, denied she had ever met Robinson but alleged that he climbed through her bathroom window in the early hours of July 25, 1993 and licked her thighs as she slept.

Robinson claimed that he knew the woman socially, that the woman was attracted to him and that he had been given an open-ended invitation to visit her apartment anytime.

Robinson was convicted of breaking and entering and sexual assault a year to the day after the trial began. He was fired by the Bermuda Police Service following the verdict last December. Sentencing was suspended pending the outcome of the appeal launched by defence lawyer Mr. Delroy Duncan.