A MAN jailed for robbery, whose conviction was quashed with the help of North-East law students, has won a bid for compensation thanks to another group from the same university.

Alex Allan, 42, from Newcastle, who spent six years behind bars for the robbery, won an appeal two years ago with the help of would-be lawyers at Northumbria University.

Now students from the same institution have forced the Home Office to agree to pay out tens of thousands of pounds in compensation.

Terry Cape, 22, from Sunderland, and John Morgan, 25, from Darlington, prepared a case for a settlement after the Government last year refused to pay up.

With the advice of tutors, they applied for a judicial review, and a judge agreed to schedule a hearing.

But last month, the Home Office wrote to Mr Allan agreeing to pay compensation and last week formally agreed to pay costs.

Solicitor Kevin Kerrigan, who teaches at the university and has worked on the case since 1997, said the compensation would total at least £50,000.

Mr Allan, a father of two daughters from the Byker area, said: ''I owe everything to this university. No stone was left unturned - not just by these students now, but there have been two students every year since I was out.

"The amount of work they have done has been unbelievable''

Two final-year students have been working on Mr Allan's case each year since he first asked the university for help to clear his name in 1997.