A barrister was cleared of professional misconduct charges over his prosecution of a sex attacker who assaulted two schoolgirls.

A Bar Standards Board panel rejected all allegations against Abdul Iqbal relating to his handling of the case.

The father of one of the victims complained after the lawyer wrongly told Bradford Crown Court there was no medical evidence about the injuries his daughter, 12, had sustained.

Panel chairman Philip Katz QC said: “This case reveals a very, very sad chapter of disasters in relation to the handling of a very serious prosecution. A number of people, it seems to us, were seriously at fault. And at the end of the day not only the victim of those offences herself but her family have been left feeling justifiably that the criminal justice system has let them down.”

But the panel dismissed the charges against Mr Iqbal, a barrister at No 6 Chambers in Leeds.

The Bar Standards Board alleged that the lawyer was guilty of misconduct when he appeared for the prosecution at the sentencing of a paedophile at Bradford Crown Court in June 2010. During the sentencing hearing Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC asked about references in the paperwork to an injury suffered by the girl.

Mr Iqbal replied to this: “There is no evidence that I have seen that supports that proposition or contention.”

The judge gave the defendant, Dominic Brannan, of Bierley, Bradford, a 12-year extended sentence, of which he will spend four years in jail, for sexually assaulting the victim and another girl aged 13, the Telegraph & Argus reported at the time.

Giving evidence to the Bar Standards Board hearing, Mr Iqbal said he regretted the distress caused to the girl’s father by the assault and his sense that justice was not done.

But he stressed that he made “detailed inquiries” of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) before the sentencing hearing and no medical evidence was ever mentioned to him.

Mr Katz noted the trial judge’s assurance that he would not have passed a stiffer sentence on Brannan even if he had been shown the medical reports.

But he was critical of Mr Iqbal for not making inquiries after the sentencing hearing about whether there actually was evidence relating to the injuries.

Mr Iqbal, who is also a qualified pharmacist, studied at Bradford and Northumbria Universities.

Mr Iqbal declined to comment after the hearing.