Lucy the Labrador is found alive – and US man Joshua Horner is freed from 50-year jail sentence

The discovery of a supposedly dead pet Labrador, very much alive, led to the unravelling of a case against a US man jailed for 50 years for molesting his daughter, who claimed he had killed the animal to frighten her into silence.

Joshua Horner, 42, a plumber from the western state of Oregon, was convicted in April last year of sexually assaulting a minor by a jury that had failed to reach a unanimous verdict.

Horner’s daughter had testified during the trial that her father threatened to harm her animals if she told the police, and that he had shot her dog Lucy in front of her to drive home his point.

The animal was found alive and living with new owners, however, by the Oregon Innocence Project, a non-profit legal organisation that had agreed to review the case on Horner’s behalf.

Horner had insisted he did not harm Lucy and that finding the dog would prove he was innocent and that his daughter had lied under oath.

Officials from the Innocence Project said the Labrador was tracked down to the town of Gearhart, northwest of Portland, and was identified because of distinctive features.