"...he was accused of being in league with a corrupt Manchester businessman."

Actually it was even more bent than that. The business man involved, Kevin Taylor wasn't corrupt - he was framed as well as part ofvteh effort to get John Stalker.

Here is a summary of this side of it from a BBC page about all this:

Kevin Taylor was subjected to a four-year police investigation that contributed to his eventual bankruptcy. He was acquitted on a minor fraud charge.

Mr Taylor sued the Manchester Police for alleged malicious prosecution and accepted an out of court settlement of more than £1m.