A father who claims to have been “wrongfully” imprisoned has asked the court to re-open his case and hear his daughter who admitted to lying when she said he had sexually abused her.

Emanuel Camilleri, 48, was provisionally released last week by order of the Constitutional Court pending the outcome of a case against his former wife, Lisa May Camilleri, who is accused of making up the abuse story.

Mr Camilleri, who has always maintained his innocence, had already been in prison for almost 400 days.

He had been sentenced to two years jail by Magistrate Miriam Hayman, which judgment was confirmed on appeal by Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano last year.

In a sitting against Mrs Camilleri on Tuesday, Police Inspector Sandro Camilleri told the court that their daughter had broken down crying during interrogation and said she had been coerced by her mother into making the allegations.

In an application filed yesterday, lawyer Tonio Azzopardi noted that a magisterial inquiry into allegations that Ms Camilleri had filed false reports about her estranged husband had led to her being charged with perjury.

This significant development led to another when the presiding magistrate ruled there was enough evidence to support the allegations of perjury.

Dr Azzopardi argued that such developments should lead to the case against his client being re-opened and new evidence considered, which should lead to Mr Camilleri being acquitted.