A man recently released from prison after serving eight years for raping a 14-year-old girl is to have his conviction referred to the Court of Appeal, it was disclosed today.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission made the announcement after looking into the case of Cornelius Renny Shaw.

Shaw was jailed for 11 years at Manchester Crown Court in December 1991 for the rape and indecent assault of the teenager in Wigan, Greater Manchester.

The girl claimed she had been raped by Shaw, whom she was friendly with, after a group outing in 1988, during which he plied her with drink.

She did not report the incident for another two years.

Shaw was charged with rape, aiding and abetting rape and indecent assault.

He received 11 years for the first count, 11 years for the second and six years for the third, to run concurrently.

On October 29, 1993, the Court of Appeal quashed the conviction for aiding and abetting rape and reduced the 11-year sentence for rape to nine years but upheld the conviction and sentence for indecent assault.

Shaw was released from prison last year after serving eight years of his sentence.

In 1996 he applied to the Home Office for a review of his case and it was transferred to the Criminal Case Reviews Commission, an independent body responsible for reviewing suspected miscarriages of justice, for consideration in March 1997.

A spokesman for the commission said: "We cannot say very much about the case but we believe his conviction may be unsound."