Another day brings another terrifying near miscarriage of justice.
Liam Allan, a 22 year old criminology student, was yesterday cleared at Croydon Crown Court of a string of rapes against a woman who claimed that she “did not enjoy sex.” Mr Allan had always maintained that she had consented, and that her complaint was malicious.
The case collapsed after three days when analysis of the complainant’s mobile phone was finally revealed to the persistent prosecution barrister, former Tory MP (and now incidentally the renowned legal blogger) Jerry Hayes. It showed that amongst the 50,000 or so messages sent by the complainant (or to use the official term approved by the College of Policing, “the victim”) were messages to Mr Allan pestering him for sex, and fantasising about “rough sex and being raped.” Mr Hayes, a member of the independent bar rather than an employee of the Crown Prosecution Service,
saw immediately that the messages destroyed the prosecution case, and invited the judge to find Mr Allan Not Guilty. The judge did so, and has called for an inquiry into why the messages were not disclosed earlier.
Had the messages not come to light the jurors would have heard the whole case and retired to consider their verdict. Perhaps Mr Allan would have been acquitted anyway. But the judgement of the CPS was that there was a better than 50% chance of a conviction. The judge was satisfied that there was no legal impediment to conviction. Everything would have turned on who, out of Mr Allan and his accuser gave the jury the more convincing account; or put more accurately, on whether the jury was sure that his accuser was telling the truth.
Unfortunately, although that is a task juries are regularly called upon to perform, it is one that they are not very good at (I am not suggesting that judges would necessarily be any better).
It is particularly difficult for juries to make the right decision when there is little independent evidence, and when the main witness is what barristers like to call, or at any rate used to like to call, “a fluent and accomplished liar.” The whole point about fluent and accomplished liars is that they are both more likely than the average person to lie, and are able to do so fluently and in an accomplished manner.
I have no idea what impression Mr Allan’s accuser made on the jury: perhaps they had seen through her and would have acquitted Mr Allan in a few minutes. But it is quite likely that she was convincing and that Mr Allan would have been found guilty and would by now be settling down by now to the first of many miserable Christmases behind bars. His chance of ever clearing his name would have hovered somewhere between low and infinitesimal.
There may be those who will say, “well the system worked, he was acquitted, what’s he got to worry about?”
It is true that the system, in this particular case, just about worked, albeit Mr Allan had to endure nearly two years of anguish when a proper investigation would have cleared him within days or weeks. But to say that his eventual acquittal shows the system is working properly would be astonishingly complacent. It would be like expressing confidence in a cheaply maintained aeroplane that has flown across the Atlantic, with the navigation system going flop-bot 200 miles south of Reykjavik, two engines conking out somewhere west of Kangerlusuak (it’s in Greenland, since you ask, surrounded by high mountains, polar bears and thousands of feet of thick clouds) and a third catching fire over Baffin Island, before making a belly landing on a single engine at Gander in Newfoundland. Mr Allan made it to freedom, but he was extraordinarily lucky.
He had been under investigation or awaiting trial on a false allegation for nearly two years. Had he been convicted he would very probably have received a sentence of around twelve years imprisonment and he would have been on the sex offenders’ register for the rest of his life. A young man would have had his life ruined by a false allegation. He owes his freedom to the professionalism of the man instructed to prosecute him.
Despite the magnificent performance of Mr Hayes, a case like this ought to shatter any remaining illusions that the English and Welsh criminal justice system is fit for purpose.
The crucial evidence undermining the prosecution case – an electronic copy of the contents of the complainant’s phone – had been sitting in police files, presumably for months. Mr Allan had specifically asked that it should be examined, because by the time of his arrest he had lost his own phone.
On this occasion, at least, the police actually did examine the phone, although nobody with experience of the way cases are prepared would have been the least bit surprised if they had not done so (the judge would then have given the jury the unhelpful instruction “not to speculate on what an inspection might have revealed”).
So, you might reasonably ask, since her phone actually was examined, why was the result of that examination not disclosed to the CPS (who could then have dropped the case earlier), or to Mr Allan’s defence solicitors who could have either brought it to the attention of the CPS, or used it to cross-examine the complainant in court?
There are several answers.
The first is that there are lots of pressures on police time and, the police, being human beings, sometimes cut corners. No doubt more resources would help, but a lack of resources may not have been the only problem. According to Mr Hayes, the “Officer in Charge” (whether this was the Officer in the Case or a separate Disclosure Officer is not entirely clear) had reviewed the messages and had not found anything that warranted disclosure. At the very least one would have expected the discs containing the messages to have appeared on the schedule, amongst masses of other items marked with what has become the default acronym: “CND” which is meant to stand for “clearly non-disclosable,” although just as often it stands for “certainly ought to be disclosed” or “no-one has bothered to look,” or “there are thousands of pages here I really can’t be bothered to look through all of them,” or “this hasn’t copied very well and I can’t read it,” or “I’m just standing in for the OIC who is on annual leave and I haven’t got the first idea, really, what the case is about let’s hope he’ll plead guilty.”
But it would be unfair to place all the blame on the police, or on the lack of police resources. Many prosecutors do not regularly do what Mr Hayes did and look at the unused material themselves. Given the 2 years this case had been in preparation it is unfortunate, to put it mildly, that this was not done until the jury were almost out. There is a tendency, and it is again quite understandable, to assume that where a disclosure schedule says “CND” it implies that someone has actually looked at the document in question and made the correct assessment of its relevance.
However, laziness and lack of resources only explain so much. A more fundamental problem is the system whereby police and prosecutors are able to decide for themselves what material should be disclosed to the defence.
The system is meant to work like this (I simplify because it can get more complicated):
Once someone is charged with an offence, a police officer identifies in a schedule all the documents and other material which the police have gathered during the investigation. In a small case this duty will probably fall on the officer in charge of the investigation. In a larger case there should be a dedicated Disclosure Officer. The identification is typically very brief, perhaps just a few words – “interview plan” or “SDN of interview suspect later released without charge”- although sometimes it will run to a few lines. If the material appears capable of “undermining” the prosecution case the Disclosure Officer should flag it up to the CPS, and if a prosecution lawyer agrees heor she will mark it with a “D” for “disclose.” If he thinks it does not undermine the case he marks it with a “CND.” Ideally the Disclosure Officer should send the CPS a disclosure report, although again in practicethat does not always happen. Sometimes the lawyer asks to see the actual documents, sometimes they will rely on the police assessment. The documents marked “D” will be copied to the defence (or sometimes if they aren’t susceptible to copying they will be made available for inspection). Those marked “CND” will not be copied, although the schedule of documents will be given to the defence. There is a further complication, in that some material may exist which is considered too “sensitive” to give to the defence (perhaps references to an informer, for example), so there is often a separate “sensitive” schedule which the CPS sees but the defence does not. In many cases the decision as to what goes on the main schedule and what goes on the sensitive schedule can seem almost entirely arbitrary.
Having been served with the disclosure schedule the ball is then in the defence team’s court. It must serve a “defence statement” setting out the nature of the defence; in this case that the complainant consented. When a suspect has answered questions in a police interview the likely nature of the defence will already be known to the prosecution. The defence statement is also the place to ask for specific documents (in this case, presumably, the phone examination report would have been requested). The prosecution (and the police) are then under a duty to review what has been disclosed, and if they hold hitherto undisclosed material tending to undermine the prosecution case, or supporting the defence case as revealed in the defence statement, they should say so and give it to the defence. In this way, it is assumed, the defence will have been given all the material it needs, although the prosecution remain under a duty to keep the question of disclosure under review until the end of the trial.
If, having essayed this pas de deux, the defence still believes that the prosecution has helpful material which it is refusing to disclose, it is possible to make an application for specific disclosure of particular documents. It is not clear whether that happened in this case, but if it did it could still have been defeated by a disclosure officer saying that the documents had been examined and they did not contain anything meeting the test for disclosure.
It is extremely rare, in a routine case, for a judge actually to look at documents and order that they should be disclosed, although that does sometimes happen when issues of Public Interest Immunity arise (a subject, perhaps, for another day).
The point of running through all this rather dry procedure is to demonstrate that the system is dependent on the efficiency and honesty of the police and the CPS. The police must correctly list, describe and categorise their documents correctly. The CPS must review the police documents carefully. And as investigations continue even after a suspect has been charged, both police and CPS must keep the matter under constant review. There are numerous possibilities for important documents to be ignored, or misunderstood, or not included on the schedule or even deliberately concealed, and the opportunities for the defence to obtain helpful material (assuming they even know of its existence) are limited. Unduly vague requests for disclosure are liable to be denounced by busy prosecutors (or judges if it gets that far) as “fishing expeditions” (fishing is considered a somewhat disgraceful activity in criminal litigation), whereas unduly specific requests run the risk of not uncovering important evidence that the defence may not even have been aware of.
The system is not working well. A July 2017 joint report by HM Inspector of Constabulary and HM Inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service summarised the position like this:
The inspection found that police scheduling (the process of recording details of both sensitive and non-sensitive material) is routinely poor, while revelation by the police to the prosecutor of material that may undermine the prosecution case or assist the defence case is rare. Prosecutors fail to challenge poor quality schedules and in turn provide little or no input to the police. Neither party is managing sensitive material effectively and prosecutors are failing to manage ongoing disclosure. To compound matters, the auditing process surrounding disclosure decision-making falls far below any acceptable standard of performance. The failure to grip disclosure issues early often leads to chaotic scenes later outside the courtroom, where last minute and often unauthorised disclosure between counsel, unnecessary adjournments and – ultimately – discontinued cases, are common occurrences. This is likely to reflect badly on the criminal justice system in the eyes of victims and witnesses. [One could add that it also might seem rather unsatisfactory in the eyes of wrongly accused defendants]
The Report generally makes for terrifying reading. The Inspectorate found faults in over 80% of disclosure schedules, and found over 22% to be “wholly inadequate.” It provides anonymised examples of near miscarriages of justice caused directly by exactly the sort of disclosure failures demonstrated in Mr Allan’s case. It also contains recommendations for improvement, which (if implemented) do not seem to have had the desired effect.
It makes some sensible recommendations, many of which involve better training for the police and better procedures for prosecutors.
There are many issues that the Report does not address.
It does not address the fact that although individual police officers are usually highly professional and scrupulously honest, there is an unavoidable tension in the police deciding for themselves what material is likely to undermine their own, or their colleagues’ cases. Moreover, when material is wrongly withheld there is often no reason for it ever to resurface. If it does not find its way onto a schedule, or does so only with a misleading description it stands a high chance of being effectively lost for ever.
Given the lamentable state of disclosure revealed by the Report it seems all but inevitable that there have been undetected miscarriages of justice. Where there is “wholly inadequate” disclosure in nearly a quarter of cases, and some significant faults with the vast majority of cases, there will inevitably have been disasters in which innocent men and women have been wrongly convicted.
One would have thought that the appeal process would be the place to remedy these problems, but it manifestly does not do so. Once a person is convicted the prosecution’s statutory duty to disclose undermining evidence ceases, to be replaced by a less onerous common law duty, that often makes the task of obtaining material wrongly withheld in the first place even more difficult. It is all very well to complain that the prosecution failed to disclose vital documents, but unless a would-be appellant can identify what it was that was wrongly withheld he will, in all probability, get nowhere. The Supreme Court has held:
“that in the contest for the finite resources of the police current investigations should be prioritised over the re-investigation of concluded cases.” [See R. (on the application of Nunn) v Chief Constable of Suffolk Constabulary [2014] UKSC 37.
A broken system of disclosure and a broken system of appeals are not the only problem with our criminal justice system.
Add to them the constant and remorseless cuts to legal aid. Add to that the clamour for the rules of evidence to be weighted more and more against defendants, especially in sex cases.
Our system no longer deserves to be considered the envy of the world. It has become instead a symbol of national decline. Cases such as that of Mr Allan show that it is close to becoming a national disgrace.
(I am grateful to a reader who pointed out an error in the original version of this blog in which I said that police officers mark the disclosure schedules with “D,” “CND” etc. That is, of course, the responsibility of the Crown Prosecution Service lawyer. )
I’m interested that the College of Policing favour calling a complainant a ‘victim’. Clearly in this case the accused was the victim and the complainant either vengeful, mentally unstable, after money, a liar and/or a fantasist.
Concur. The quickest way to ruin someone’s life, is to make a false allegation of abuse to the police about them. It has proven so effective, swathes of individuals have started doing it. Because it works. The police allow it to work, and are found colluding with complainants as if buddies when it suits their agenda. Exaro journalists were spotted accompanying complainants whilst police statements were made. Like this is normal. *Rolls eyes.* It isn’t as if an Exaro journalist could even be considered a responsible adult.
Police are leaving men to swing in despair on bail for years. Much to the delight of complainants running amok on social media, aspiring to get their stories into mainstream. Whilst other men are found swinging from ropes…
The female in the Liam Allan case should be prosecuted without delay, and the maximum sentence imposed. Liam Allan was at severe risk of losing his liberty for many years. For an innocent person, the loss of dignity and liberty for only a day when arrested for questioning is indescribable, and something from which innocents never full recover.
Brilliant post Sue i couldnt agree more.. My life is in total turmoil through a false allegation.. I was never charged but that is no consolation at all.. I do not trust anyone no more and just isolate myself and feel like a empty shell just existing.. These scumbags which is a nice way of describing who concoct false allegations should be dealt with severely but they dont because the police think your guilty from day one.. Thanks Sue on your understanding on how the innocent feel and may i wish you all the very best and a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Yours Keith
Please send me documentation on your case so I can include it on the False Rape Timeline.
Did you hear about that illegal immigrant Freeda rodrigues who lied in court at Reading crown court 2017
She gave false evidence at Reading crown court case saying she was kidnapped but she was found out lying
As CCTV showed the lier xmas shopping with the alleged kidnapper a week later in central London.
The lier who came to the UK on fake papers was allowed to lie on oath as she conspired with a corrupt police officer from Windsor police station
Jason.barnes66@aol.com
“The female in the Liam Allan case should be prosecuted without delay, and the maximum sentence imposed. Liam Allan was at severe risk of losing his liberty for many years. For an innocent person, the loss of dignity and liberty for only a day when arrested for questioning is indescribable, and something from which innocents never full recover.”
Well said : (majorly overlooked point) This has to be done so that faith in genuine claims is not lost – without reciprocal justice, the great strides of the #metoo movement will be lost/undermined : this is not about revenge, it is about Justice.
We should be worried about the case of the young man on trial for rape when the Police withheld evidence that proved him innocent. If this hidden evidence had not come to light this man would probably be in Jail now. This shows the folly of convicting persons on accusations that are not proven. There are many innocent men in jail purely because they were accused and the her word against his seems enough for many. The media hysteria is fanning the flames of bad laws that ignore justice
If someone says they are going to rob a shop they cannot be arrested until they actually do. Thee laws need looking into as well as the biased actions of the Police and CPS
The pendelum is not in the greatest place for men these days. A female “victim” just has to put a scowl on her face and the man’s goose is cooked, even if he is found to be innocent down the road, after spending defence dollars or in Jolly England, Pound Sterlings.
It is not much different here in Canada. And unfortunately police are not only under staffed and under equipped to always get it right but their orders from above are to lay the charges and not be the judges at the initial stage.
Marcel Strigberger- https://www.marcelshumour.com/
former lawyer, currently a humourist, -author of Poutine on the Orient Express: An Irreverent Look at Travel.
https://www.amazon.ca/Poutine-Orient-Express-Irreverent-Travel-ebook/dp/B076HLDDLG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1508422009&sr=8-1&keywords=marcel+strigberger
yeah they make sure they always prejudice the juries as well by labelling people as GUILTY with photos and details YEARS before the trial by kangaroo….after torturing so hard in some cases they dnt even remember if they’re guilty or not, or like in my case…..not even an accusation against me?
Matthew, there’s an aspect to this I find utterly baffling – maybe you can help clarify.
This case clearly falls into the category of ‘defendant admits sex happened but claims it was consensual’, aka the ‘he said she said’ type of case.
From the detail I’ve managed to find so far, Liam stated very early on (i.e. nearly two years ago) that the complainant sent texts after the alleged crimes asking for casual sex; the police, Liam’s defence team, and the CPS would have been aware of his claim.
So why wouldn’t there have been pressure to unearth/review/consider the content of her 50k texts way back then? How on earth could this information only come to light so late in proceedings? It’s not as if the texts are some extraordinary kind of evidence in a case like this – surely subsequent texts and social-media comms would be one of the first things to review?
The Police/CPS are desperate to increase rape conviction stats any which way. They have decided that false claims are one in a million based on very dubious research. It’s weird that only any other crime Police are expected to take it seriously but are encouraged to think critically where’s with rape its – assume they are a victim and only look at evidence to support this hypothesis. It’s crazy!
In the early 1950s the public acquiesced to the police pursuing a McCarthyesque purge of gays. Half a century on and subsequently, the public acquiesced to the police pursuing a McCarthyesque purge of men accused of rape.
http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommun…andandwales/june2017 shows a graph of sexual offence crime perpetrated in England and Wales between 2001 and 2017. Rape offences ranged between 12,000 and 16,000 per annum between 2001 and 2012. From that point on, numbers increased exponentially, so that for the year-ending June 2017, the total had reached 45,000 – a three to four-fold increase over just a few years.
Just as in the 1950s, our police force and allied agencies have once more turned rogue, and in acquiescing, we as a society condone it.
I think most of the increase in prosecutions for sex crime is accounted for by historic prosecutions.
celebrities raped 30 000 people? or is that what they want u to think? just read your article on Rolf Harris….I entirely agree! And old enough to remember that (when we had a legal system) if you were going to prosecute somebody you actually needed some evidence, i.e. not pure hearsay…something at least to corroborate it.
Now we got people serving life for murder when the ‘corpse’ has been proven to be walking around in Germany…you wd have thought that requirement for a murder trail would be a) said victim existed b) that person is now dead i.e. a corpse and c) some evidence that the accused was actually responsible for the death in someway, wouldn’t you….?
And when they do it they just get promoted to Royal Protection Squad for example…..this ain’t my cuntry anymore, not been for a long time 🙁
u wanna talk statistics? ‘they’ say when somebody get’s murdered there’s 9/10 chance it was somebody close to them…i.e. close family member, lover, friend….now in the 80s that figure was 8/10, 70s something like 6/10…….now why could that possibly be?
I remember watching documentary on the Sally Anne Beaumont case (apologies if I got the name wrong, never good with names but that what did stick in the mind…) young lady raped and murdered and left on her own driveway…..now the pigyobs basically admitted/ bragged that they were already to fit up the boyfriend for it….until some drunk yobo at the other end of the country was arrested, DNA taken….and automatically flagged up a match.
Not that that means everybody needs to have their DNA taken at birth and put on the DB (or the kiddy printing thing, both of which was ruled illegal by European Court some years back, nothing changed…contempt?)….point is we are not slaves, and having that kind of power over anybody is totally unacceptable in any so called civilised country. 10 000s of people every year now are graduating with the knowledge of how to make a virus that will target a piece of DNA and murder them remotedly for a start….
The old system was right balance…if u wanted to sample somebody’s DNA you either needed consent or a warrant…i.e. prove reasonable grounds. Then removed from the DB (and verifiably so) when no longer required…I’m only in favour of the retention in the most serious violent and sexual type cases for repeat offenders…
The link you posted does not work.
Dubious research indeed!
Isn’t there a long term study from the US that found that something like 40% of rape allegations were alse?!
Then again it wasn’t carried out by a department of Wimmins Studies and based on interviews with its students!
Not that long ago we supposedly had something like 56,000 rapes pa in the UK.
That included scenarios such as wimmin having sex when they didn’t “want” to because they were “afraid” to refuse sex because they “feared” that if they didn’t “submit” their husbands might cheat, or even leave them?!
Now the figure is supposedly something like 86,000pa!?!?!!!
But then apparently the latest PC definition of “rape” includes realising a former partner only said they loved them to get into their knickers, and therefore the sex was obtained under false pretences, and so was rape.
It would appear there’s not much difference between PC Training Colleges and Wimmins Studies Departments!
Concur. One is considering the possibility of weak CPS staff being undermined, overawed and pressured by police who have had Allan’s card marked from two years ago. A thorough review of his case cannot start soon enough. One has to ask wtf, wtf and wtf were Liam Allan’s own lawyers doing for the past two years?
The answer to your question is simple. Making request after request for this material.
not too hard though…..? they have a financial interest in dragging these things out as long as possible….and i doubt they were really his lawyers, doubtful he could afford them at that age just coming out of the education system unless he had a rich daddy or something….most likely actors forced upon him paid for by the state….they’re only ever loyal to their paymasters….and it is so rare to actually find a competent lawyer that takes legal aid……they’re much higher paid if they are competent/ loyal to their oaths/ actually do the job they’re paid for….
The fees are fixed. The longer the case goes on, the less they are paid.
Total bollocks to suggest that a legal Aid defence solicitor is only ever loyal to the state. Get a life my friend
The female’s texts were fundamental evidence. Leaving police in no position to determine them as being useless to Liam’s case. It would be interesting to see the documentation regarding the requests and refusals. Having recently observed several cases where police have even been withholding evidence from each other, I dread to consider how many people are languishing in prisons due to this shocking state of affairs. Whose nose would be skinned by simply handing over the CD of texts when it was requested? Oh wait…
Are phone companies not required to archive all text messages for a 12 month just in case they are asked for them by the police or MI5? Does the law specifically forbid the defence from asking for them?
There was constant pressure from the defence.
well it’s easy to be abusive to people isn’t it? you obviously have no penis…..i’m personally disgusted with what people get away with censoring in a so called free society—but this is a barrister’s blog and he allows you to say that?
obviously there is a conflict of interests when the person you are supposed to be working for isn’t paying you and you are actually being paid by the ‘enemy’…bizarrely in this case it seems the prosecutor flipped on themselves….so does that mean somebody going to get promoted for friendly fire or not? it’s so confusing, pretty sure that’s because it makes no actual sense.
and know i shall never be friends with your sort, you are the enemy…last one to use that phrase against me was my rapist 🙁
and as for getting a life…..well, you try to do that after the state has completely destroyed yours and refuses to ‘allow’ you to rebuild anything, with the constant attacks, breakins, beatings etc…and the fact that they stole my papers….you try getting a home or even a bank account, employment without them in this day and age. scum like you are the problem.
My question too… She sent c 50k texts. They were received by Liam. Why were these not available earlier to strengthen his defence?
Good point, ChrisG. Presumably her texts to the defendant begging for sex were already before the court, and the texts that had been withheld and which made all the difference were sent to other friends of hers. One text said he hadn’t raped her. A jury wouldn’t have convicted, if it had seen that text, but she might have a valid explanation for sending it.
Not very long ago I was presented with an Unused material schedule in which the reviewing lawyer had entered next to the itemised Crime Report “Not seen – Not disclosable”
When asked what this meant she replied, “Well it means that it’s not been disclosed because I haven’t seen it. I can’t disclose what I haven’t seen.”
The defendant was accused of a joint enterprise intrusion burglary/robbery, in which the victim was tied up and tortured. Sentence was inevitably into double figures on conviction
Her partner had pleaded guilty
Her defence was that she had been in the premises but had not taken part in the robbery, she had just walked around another part of the flat.
On examining the Crime Report, and in particular the complainant’s first account to police in the hospital, he had said “X’s girlfriend didn’t do anything, she just walked around the flat.”
Ho Hum
that sounds bit irrelevant considering joint enterprise law? little boys jailed for life for doing nothing but sitting on Mr Dove’s wall? man jailed for life for giving another man a lift to railway station day after? passenger in a car given 7 years for drunk driving…when he, er….wasn’t driving? could go on…..
You have clearly never read Jogee, because you don’t understand joint enterprise
totally irrelevant, considering the FACTS i just referred to? i think u need to grow a penis, or a brain, or both
A good piece, Matthew. I will very briefly contrast 2 recent cases that I have been involved with:
As an expert witness for the Prosecution (a private prosecution) the solicitors were extremely careful in making sure they disclosed everything.
As an expert witness for the Defence in a CPS-prosecuted matter, it was difficult to get access to all the evidence. The attitude that I received was “oh, we’re not bothering with that exhibit” and “the evidence on that exhibit is just a copy of what you have already had”. When I finally got hold of a copy of the data from the ‘unimportant exhibit’, it contained material that assisted the position of the Defence.
I favour that the latter situation is the result of incompetence/laziness rather than any conspiracy, but both can equally lead to an unjust outcome.
Regards.
Great article, Matthew.
It is now 20 years since the disclosure provisions were changed in the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996, and they have never worked. Over time, they have actually become worse. The problem is not lack of time for police or CPS to do their job properly, it is systematic, with CPS reluctance to disclose material that may help the defence and undermine their own case, or sometimes not being fully aware of what the defence case might be. It has got worse with the closure relationship between police and CPS, with CPS at times attached to police teams, brought in by the Blair government, so CPS get absorbed into the police culture.
In mine and my partner’s case, where we were jointly charged (and found not guilty) with historic child cruelty, they assessed material that was crucial to our defence as being of no help to us, and only disclosed after repeated demands for it. They even denied having material that they eventually had to admit they possessed, and even then only disclosed selectively, so at times it was difficult to follow (such as page 2 and 3 of a document but not page 1, and social media entries without the earlier entry to which what they disclosed was a response).
There needs to be a full review of the Law, Rules and Guidance on disclosure; criminal sanctions for deliberate failure by CPS and police officers to disclose, and a return to the rights of defendands to have access to all material held by the police.
Truth and Justice 2
The issue is not just one of disclosure. In principle if the system worked as advertised, absence of evidence should not affect the probability of a conviction. That is the basis of the presumption of innocence. What if all events had been as they were but the complainant had deleted the messages? The weight of evidence against the defendant would have been the same. The fact that experienced criminal lawyers think there is a good chance the defendant could have been convicted in these circumstances is very worrying. It suggests that absence of evidence is insufficient to obtain an acquittal. Defendants are actively having to adduce evidence to prove themselves innocent.
This is correct. In another case recently thrown out of court after senior CPS intervention, it was found the Met had seized the computer and phone of the accused. Deliberately failing to return them to him until after his case was dismissed. Thereby leaving him without documents stored over a five year period, which he knew he would need to use in his defence, when the time inevitably came where he knew he would have to stand trial – due to a prolonged and fully documented hate campaign by a gang of relentless, obsessive stalkers who have hounded and threatened him and others during the past five years.
His false accusers also made repeated calls to the police, to ensure those who had stated they would be witnesses when the time came, would be arrested as soon as possible on similar false allegations, and their IT equipment also seized and confiscated. This was due to some germalists working to target dates, where they had bragged about using the trial of the accused to saturate the press and tv with articles and programmes in regard to stalking and CSA. (Whilst they are still hot topics. Ker-ching!) Police were made fully aware of the germalists intentions prior to the last batch of dawn raids and arrests. Yet carried on regardless. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how this part of the Met police investigating the Met police and other police divisions pans out…
Police were also forewarned of the constant intimidation of witnesses and death threats, in order to prevent the police from continuing to obtain false warrants to make dawn raids and serve PINs on the say-so of the accused’s false allegators, without at least reading the direct threats to the accused, and doing the most basic investigations, as in accordance with their oath. However, several police divisions chose to deliberately ignore all warnings made by the accused and other victims, and proceeded to obtain false warrants and carry out dawn raids at homes where families with elderly people and children slept. All in a day’s work for some. Some witnesses were left sleeping downstairs for months to ensure their doors were not battered off their hinges by the Met police.
The Met are a national disgrace and should be disbanded asap. It is as yet unknown how an Acting DS was given the power to be allowed to leave so many innocent people under threat in so many areas of Britain, but this should eventually be made known in the public interest.
Although other victims were arrested to prevent them being credible witnesses for the defence, as expected, no charges were brought against those who wished to be witnesses for the accused. The damage was already done. The credibility of witnesses was suitably destroyed, and the seizure and confiscation of their IT equipment was a relief to all gang members who congratulated the police for carrying out all their wishes in a timely manner for all concerned in the vendettas. *Disclosure is a blessed thing. All manner of things come crawling out, during and after.*
Enter the senior CPS at the 11th hour! Due to their long awaited intervention, the accused was rightly cleared of all charges and the case dismissed. Though the Met have to date failed to arrest and charge all those whom they knew to have been be involved in making false allegations against the accused and others over a four year period, it is understood several Met police officers are currently being investigated. Quite how those detectives are being investigated, is anyone’s guess at present. The total number of officers involved in this ramble of a case is currently understood to be in excess of 150 and still counting…
Had only one officer listened to the accused four years ago, or perhaps read a few of the direct threats made to him by his false allegators, other victims of the same gang would have been spared the frustration, humiliation and extreme abuse from all police divisions involved.
Prior to senior CPS intervention, the accused was facing a possible prison sentence of ten years… Think about this for one moment. This could be you or I.
Please click on my name should you be interested in this unprecedented case. Anyone who uses the internet is at risk. You do not need to be campaigning or ‘putting yourself out there’. One retweet or a post on a blog could bring death threats, psychopaths and obsessives into your life in a way you cannot imagine until it happens to you.
Police do not need more funding and resources. They need to start doing the job they are paid to do. They should try opening their ears and listening without prejudice, and be ready to open their eyes and read evidence presented on a plate for them. If they find their eyes glazing over due to boredom or prejudice, or do not understand what they see, it is time to resign from their job or be removed from it. This is the age of IT, and if police refuse to come to terms with this, they are not fit for purpose, and there is certainly no place for them in police service.
The day all police officers enter service with a degree, we will know they must at least be able to read and comprehend to a certain standard. Lately, there has been little evidence of this, and it is most necessary, to ensure there are no more miscarriages of justice due to literacy and comprehension problems.
Nobody should be left at such risk by police that they end up facing a trial without their own IT equipment and discs of evidence to defend themselves. Nor should defence lawyers have to wing it through to trial without being presented with the facts, the whole facts, and nothing but the facts.
A wicked web indeed…
A close relative was falsely accused over 30 years ago of sexual assault. The investigating police from a West End police station in London were very thorough and impartial in their work. As the nearest relative phoned for assistance i was able to see what went on , first hand.
The police eventually had the accuser admitting he was attempting to blackmail my relative and signed a statement that he had made a false claim. When my relative was released the police were disappointed that he did not want to make a complaint about the blackmail as their opinion was that is was a particularly nasty case, However they said they fully understood that the falsely accused could not face further turmoil.
Today I would not rust a policeman to tell me the time of day.
I spotted the false accuser about 5 years ago in Manchester. He seems to be thriving. My relative left the UK in fear and has never lived here again. It has affected his entire life.
What has gone wrong in the meantime? I do not accept that police are “under pressure”. They are dealing with people’s lives her and could easily destroy someone for no reason. If police claim they are under pressure then they should get out of the force and get a decent job. Perhaps once when no-one wants to be a cop politicians and the general public may wake up,
Please send me documentation on this case for the timeline.
“old school prosecutor averted miscarriage of justice” [photo caption]
Shouldn’t that be “incompetent prosecutor sabotages own trial, letting rapist off the hook”?
It will be interesting to see whether Jerry Hayes ever gets briefed again, by the feminist-led Crown Prosecution Service. I suspect he has sabotaged what’s left of his own career as a crown prosecutor, as well as this promising rape trial.
Abolish rape!
https://johnallmanuk.wordpress.com/2015/03/07/abolish-rape/
No, you’re wrong. The DPP has apologised for this case. I have no doubt that the CPS will continue to brief Mr Hayes.
what they say and what they do are completely different things? surely…..they’ll leave it a few months then he’ll ‘pay’ for it most likely…
You have to go through something before you can really believe any of it.
My so called ‘case’ has been ongoing for 18 years now….still effectively a prisoner, still impossible to get them into Court or even ID them….but I and some women I knew were repeatedly gang raped by perps that are almost certainly employed as ‘police officers’ and the like….it’s all on video, they filmed it…on their phones…I’ve been 24/7 surveillance since about 2000 I think…….what can one do to get them to ‘disclose’ this evidence….?
I follow a lot of cases….many involve CCTV…or rather don’t….people being convicted for murder…without said evidence being released, even when proven it does actually exist…..and the perverse opposite……i.e. when pigyobs beat people to death, they say the camera wasn’t working…..on that occasion the IPCC actually got involved….found evidence that the cameras were working…..and still nobody arrested?
Never mind the high profile one’s like that Jean Charles De Menenzes thing….
Really perverse thing is that in this case if he was convicted he wdn’t be entitled to compensation….as he wasn’t, is he now? at least 2 years loss of earnings for a start, surely? damage to career and rep will be hindering for rest of his life…it’s those first couple of years when u get into the ‘real world’ that determines the rest of your career/ life…
What does “unauthorised disclosure between counsel” refer to in the July 2017 report ?
Ultimately, it is trial counsel’s responsibility to ensure that there has been full disclosure.
If previously undisclosed material is seen by him, it must be his decision whether or not to disclose it
“They have decided that false claims are one in a million”: no sane adult could possibly believe such an absurd number. So why do adults pretend to? Crooked careerism, I suppose.
A knighthood for the hero prosecution barrister would be a good idea. The false accuser should be tried. Sacking for the head of the CPS should happen pronto. Individual policemen and CPS staff should be investigated with a view to prosecution. The College of Policing should be dissolved.
A question: I gather that Mr Hayes, the future Sir Jerry, had been only recently appointed to prosecute the case. Who was his predecessor and why had he not done his duty properly? Another case for investigation, I suggest.
It’s well past time to begin jailing shysters and rozzers who misbehave as shamelessly as the shower involved here.
@ Keith Merry Christmas and a Happier New Year to you too!
It will be of little or no consolation to you that what you are feeling now, is felt by many others falsely accused of all manner of crimes. It is terrible you are being forced into isolating yourself, and feeling you are not living your life to its full potential. Try to keep as physically active as you are able, and stay interested in things you enjoyed doing before this life changing incident. Indulge yourself in something you have always wanted to do, but never had the confidence to do. After all you have been through, you are not the person you were before. You will be stronger for all your suffering, so embrace yourself and give yourself a treat for coming through all this.
The trauma of your police interview will have been exacerbated by untrained and/or otherwise inadequate police officers, to whom you were simply yet another job to get out of the way before their shift finished. It is difficult to understand that the way they treated you in interview was not personal. Rather it is the way most inadequate and ill equipped police officers treat ‘suspects’. Whilst we cannot expect all police officers to be trained to a standard fit for purpose, we can ask or even demand in the present hysterical climate of people making false allegations, that each police division at least sets aside highly trained officers who have to work with people accused or rape or abuse, and ensures they have the suitable qualifications to deal with the trauma most ‘suspects’ will inevitably feel as the interview proceeds
I have known many people break down under the pressure of a police interview, and heard police come up with the most offensive and ridiculous reasons for someone having broken down. A number of police officers have been discovered to take great pleasure in the ‘breaking down’ of a suspect. No matter that the broken down people were completely innocent. Hence why police should be suitably trained, and poorly performing officers removed from their job forthwith.
Police interview techniques are indisputably appalling across the board in Britain. One reason being due to some inherent power-mad disposition where police believe themselves to be Judge, jury and executioner even before they set the tapes running. Being treated like a bad ‘un by police on top of false allegations being set before you, can lead innocent people into despair and anger which continues years after the police finally discard you. Most innocent people never truly recover from false allegations, but can learn how to manage the trauma.
You may never find the words to describe how you feel, but be assured there are other people who have been where you are today, and they are beginning to find the words, and are challenging the way police interview people in such circumstances. Liam Allan’s case and other cases not yet picked up by MSM, should lead to a change in how the falsely accused are treated, and lead to jail sentences for those who deliberately set out to wreck lives by making whimsical or spiteful false allegations.
Please keep in mind that although your accuser and the police have stripped you of your dignity, you still have your integrity. This is one thing which nobody can ever take away from you. If you were treated badly by police, you are always going to be a far better person than they are, because you still have your integrity and compassion. Whereas they, quite simply do not. It is they who are the empty vessels. Making a lot of noise, but going nowhere. No innocent person should walk away from a police interview feeling they have been abused by the police. In the coming months, you will see how many people have been repeatedly abused by the police due to false allegations having been made.
I am currently observing a number of linked cases where a gang of disparate individuals have been congregating over a number of years, conspiring to harm, and causing actual harm by making repeated calls to various police stations across Britain, to make false allegations against household names, politicians, lawyers, professionals, charity workers etc.
According to victims’ diaries, documents and recent court disclosures, it has become apparent police were fully aware of the gang and their incessant death threats and inciting hatred over a period of years, yet are still to this day deliberately allowing more and more people to be attacked and threatened. Several people being attacked on twitter right now, have been reporting the gang to the police for years. No need for police to ask for evidence, because it is in their faces. Yet they keep looking away, because they know that untangling this web of deceit and lies after five years, will be a mammoth task.
Some documents have proven police were liaising and colluding with members of the gang in causing irreparable harm to innocents whom the police knew to be innocents. (Via bundles of documentation police themselves hold.) Please click on my name to go to a blog where some of the gang-stalking behaviour is illustrated. When one person makes a false allegation against a person, it is shattering. When several individuals conspire to harm by making similar false allegations, it can be shattering in an unimaginable way. When police are found to be involved and colluding with those who make false allegations against innocents, it takes shattered to quite another level which does not bear contemplating…
What a wicked web indeed…
A few years ago the Police turned up at my house , I think there was about eight from two different forces ,they turned my house upside down ,took many items computer ,cameras etc . A while later I was taken to a Police station and interviewed and spent along time there . It was all very vague , I didnt know if I had been arrested , nobody would tell me what i had supposed to have done or who the supposed victim was , I was totally confused . I was released in shock with no money and means of getting home ,had to walk miles , I felt like jumping in front of a truck . I was bailed to return months later . As the return date approached , as I had heard nothing I decided to pop into the Police station to see what was happening , I was informed that the whole thing had been dropped ,but nobody had bothered to let me know ,they seemed to want me to suffer a bit longer . It took a lot of effort to have my property returned as well . One force did give a reluctant apology ,the other refused . I suspect the false accuser was a person i had allowed to stay at my home and caught stealing from me and told her to go , a spiteful act of revenge . this whole episode almost destroyed my life .
Modern policing. Himmler-style.
In much the same way as Liam Allam, ex MP John Hemming’s life has also been blighted by false allegations for more than two years.
Sonia Poulton has stated categorically she is in possession of a list of circa 140 Westminster paedophiles names. Today we find The Guardian aiding and and abetting Jess Phillips in robbing Barbara Cartland and Dickens to describe the den of iniquity and chamber of horrors that is Westminster. One suspects all of this scaremongering must be playing havoc with school trips to Parliament…
How did Phillips become MP for Birmingham Yardley? Oh wait… She tells us herself. “I know all their stories.”
Phillips: “Every fibre of my body feels repelled, I close my eyes, hold my breath as if preparing to dive into deep water. I manage to surge forward quickly into the safety of the scrum. But it’s not safe. In that scrum I am again presented with others who don’t want to catch my eye, or those who don’t give a toss if they do because they have grown used to making people feel uncomfortable.
There are others who look notably sorry, sad and repentant. I am certain that none of them feel as uncomfortable as I do. They only have to deal with me knowing and maybe one or two others. I know all of the stories. When I’m surrounded, I feel like Whoopi Goldberg in the film Ghost as she fights through the clamour of the needy dead. I break free of my own lobby into the scrum of all the members of parliament and push through the crowd in the chamber to head back to my office. I’m forced to bow my head, to push through in a way that means I don’t encounter the men from the other side whose skeletons are jangling in my mind.”
Wtf? Phillips is obviously suffering greatly, and the folk of Birmingham and Yardley are cruel to sit around watching her. They should alleviate her from her suffering at the next election. If not before.
“The needy dead” pmsl. But encore, Phillips. Same time again next Sunday?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/17/at-westminster-the-accused-still-walk-among-us?CMP=twt_gu
What a horrible experience, being forced into a tight space with Jess Phillips. I hope the poor bloke is okay.
It seems that Liam Allan was saved from a long prison sentence only by the professional integrity of Jerry Hayes. That’s a very flimsy check and balance to rely on in criminal justice. We can see how flimsy by noting that the previous prosecution advocate had lesser scruples.
This makes me wonder whether the whole circus is Article 6 compliant at all. If the same state agencies that investigate and prosecute an individual also decide what evidence the defendant can see, does the defendant really have the independent tribunal to which he is entitled? I’d say not. He certainly doesn’t have equality of arms. One side has all the evidence. The other has only what the opponent chooses to show. Obvious really.
It’s not just a matter of principle. An official who reviews evidence might not appreciate its significance, whereas a defendant,with his own contextual knowledge, would. As Marc mentioned above, there is also the issue of technical or specialist evidence. Without expertise in the relevant area (computing, accounting, laboratory tests etc) an official reviewing evidence is incompetent to judge what is relevant or not.
Let’s forget about giving the benefit of the doubt to police about this, because of lack of resources or laziness. In this specific case, they had ample resources to string the poor man along for two years, as often happens. In other cases, there are enough resources to pursue spurious lines of enquiry by harassing family members or colleagues with arrests or property seizures at 4am.
And the CPS? It seems in this case, they were initially acting in good faith on the incomplete evidence supplied by the police. However, it would be interesting to see whether the prosecution advocate prior to Jerry Hayes actually made any enquiries to the police about the requested material, and what the police’s response was.
Your question about Article 6 compliance is certainly an interesting one. I must admit that I hadn’t considered that at all and I’ pretty sure nobody’s raised the point. The procedure doesn’t really seem to equate to equality of arms.
seriously? nobody even thought of that and you’re supposed to be ‘legal professionals’? but people like me say things like that and it’s gets called a delusion and we get ass raped in mental prisons for it? u could not make this shit up!
“the professional integrity of Jerry Hayes. That’s a very flimsy check and balance to rely on in criminal justice.” Only in the sense that it’s relying on one man and it would be much wiser to rely on more. In the end, there’s nothing that will work without reliance on individual integrity.
The real problem is that it is totally unrealistic to expect the police (and the CPS) to unravel their own knitting…but that is exactly what they are expected to do by disclosing material that undermines their own case or assists the defence.
Surely, it is for the Court to knit the product, police/CPS just supply the wool. The outcome is dependent on the honesty of the supplier and so the quality of the wool.
But the police only seem to deal in black and white wool.
But refuse to supply the white.
Leaving the court to tailor the darkest of suits to a misandrist PC feminist anti pale stale male pattern.
With plenty left over for a black cap for the judge!
But it’s not THEIR case is it?
The complainant brings a complaint to the police.
As I understand it it is their job to INVESTIGATE the ALLEGATION.
See if it has any merit.
See if there is enough evidence in their opinion.
Pass it on to the CPS (where the P stands for PROSECUTION, not PERsecusion) Service.
Who confirm whether or not there is enough evidence to secure a conviction AND WHETHER IT IS IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST TO DO SO.
How on earth is it in the interests of justice, never mind the public interest, to lock up innocent men not only for something they didn’t do, but for something the authorities knew, or should have known, they didn’t do?!
Or are you one of those “liberal” self-loathing White Knight Virtue Signalling Social Justice Warriors who agrees with the Feminazis that All (White) Men Are Rapists?!?!?!!!
And BREATHE!!!!!!!!
no no dats not the pigyobs job at all! it tis their job to commit violent crime! try to monopolise it….and cover up for their mates…Danny John Jules case is an easy example to show people?
They had a ‘policy change’ about 25-30 years ago where they went from complying with the law to it becoming a job requirement to break all of them….some of us are old enough to remember them getting PC Reg Hollis to stand with his hand in the drain (just in case their victim flushed the toilet) whilst serving a search warrant….decades now since they served a warrant or even bothered getting one. Doubt they even know now what one is supposed to look like….they just put on masks smash the place kick the shit out the occupants sell their personal data to their mates (ACPO always makes a good profit) and then sell the happy slap footage to tv companies for entertainment…and they call it ‘policing’….
They should realise it is not THEIR case. They are servants of the people. A warranted acquittal or discontinued case is just as much a “result” as a warranted conviction.
It is not lack of resources that caused this. In recent years and particularly since Jimmy Saville, police and CPS have lost their objectively when it comes to investigating sexual assault/rape cases and police will ignore/not include any evidence that either suggests or proves the innocence of the accused in their submission to the CPS. It has become up to defence lawyers and family members to find and expose this evidence and prevent miscarriages of justice
Sometimes you have to wonder whether the police see the advantages to their own safety, security, and pensions of keeping resectable citizens onside. The decency and courage of the occasional individual policeman won’t weigh for much once the law-abiding classes decide en masse that the police are institutionally corrupt.
Alas, I for one have already made that decision about institutional corruption. It seems to me that the respectable citizens are used in a very different way by for the police these days. They are the ones who stand still and let the police charge and convict them, thereby keeping the police’s stats looking reasonable. The police gave up trying to catch real criminals a long time ago, probably when they started using business management techniques to “become more efficient”.
“The case collapsed after three days…..”
Surely that should have been:
“The TRIAL collapsed after three days when the case had dragged on for two years….”?!
Here’s another, apparently.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/19/met-to-review-all-ongoing-cases-after-second-trial-collapses
This needs to be shouted from the rooftops. In truth our criminal justice system has long been matter of national shame. It should be termed the criminal injustice system. A system which is intended to maximise the number of convictions in order to show that the politicians are doing a good job on law and order. Whether in fact those found guilty had committed the crime for which they were convicted is simply not relevant.
I notice the Met is now launching a ‘review’ of all ongoing sex crime investigations as if the problem was somehow linked to the type of alleged crime. They are missing the point. The possible corrupt, abuse of power, prejudiced control of evidence by the police should be reviewed in ALL cases. I have neither seen nor read anything to suggest a possible miscarriage of justice (due to the police withholding evidence) could not occur in non-sex crime cases. Still, I will await the’review’ findings to learn why any failures in this case were due to it specifically being a ‘sex crime’ case.
Given the police’s conduct in Mr Allan’s case it would not surprise me if, in other cases, the police being in sole possession of damning evidence against someone of a crime, decided to drop the case (excuse my ignorance if such instances have already been reported).
More stuff coming out the woodwork:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42417553
If the police are willing to hide evidence in sex offence cases, then surely they’d be willing to do the same in other cases. Or is this all related to the very human instinct to police other people’s sex lives? In which case, I’m tempted to think that the police have lapsed into witch-hunting, which would be nothing short of a disgrace.
victim presumably held on ‘remand’ for two years before said ‘trial’…..?
My take on life (it has relevance to the articles – I promise!)
Having six children in the 60’s, my mother would knit all manner of garments. Being thrifty, some would eventually be unpicked and she created a fair stack of wool, much to be recycled. Her wool basket would become a tangled mass of colour, and there were times when she would have to tackle her tangled up supply, spending hours separating each ball from others and untangling them ready to go into further production.
Like my ‘mothers wool’, the police service are in a mess and there needs to be a serious effort and a review to untangle that of their own making. There are more attacks on individual police officers now than at any time. Purely through dress they are viewed as a para-military force. So many interactions with the public are ‘flight or fight’. There are more officers on sick leave than ever before (at a time when their numbers have been reduced) and it is generally considered that the public has lost confidence in the service, leaving me to wonder do they have any respect for others or themselves?
The softer and more cuddly side of the Police service, here in Devon, is presented through the PCSO’s. These are now to be disbanded and replaced to satisfy the Chief Constables fixation on wanting ‘more officers who can shoot guns and drive high speed cars’. Look out West Yorkshire, it seems you have a vying competition to extole Devon as the high crime area and fairly beastly place!
If the police service is not to disintegrate and public loose absolute faith in their probity, the Police (and CPS) needs to unpick itself, carefully ‘roll up its balls of wool’ and look to ways of getting back the respect of the public .
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/aliso…s-must-stand-sacked/ by Alison Pearson
“Alison Saunders must stand down or be sacked”
Saunders should be sacked in disgrace with loss of pension. The loss of one’s liberty for only a few hours of questioning due to false allegations, causes major psychological problems from which no innocent will ever truly recover. This League of Gentlemen look-alike is responsible for creating quite the darkest ever era in British policing. Only a few decades ago, the innocents we know to be incarcerated and awaiting trials today, would perhaps have been facing the gallows.
Get her out. Throw out all those who support her in breaking the law and stripping people of equality of arms. And force every British police officer to swear their oath to the Queen again. (Few police officers appear to actually understand their oath when questioned about it.) When a police officer is found acting with prejudice, sack them on the spot. No warnings. No disciplinaries. Sack them. If they are so incompetent they do not know they are incompetent, they are wasting a salary which could be paid to someone else.
Having recently had sight of a letter written by a senior police officer to a complainant, wherein the officer blatantly states they are refusing to accept evidence because there is too much of it, one has to ask wtf they think policing is all about. It is suspected police officers are so demoralised by stories in the press about being overworked and underpaid, they actually believe what they are reading is true.
However, it is not true. Police are paid very well in Britain. Dedicated Specials do the job voluntarily because they love the job of policing, but there is no money to employ them. If a police officer feels undervalued, they should be handed a resignation form, and bid them farewell. There are hundreds of others waiting to do their job.
The one thing I will say for Saunders is that she has not shied from prosecuting false accusers.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/20/poli…-rape-cases-row-dna/
A police doctor has warned of potential miscarriages of justice in rape cases after medical examinations were outsourced to the private security company G4S.
Dr Steven Hopkins claims that he was asked to take DNA samples from both rape victims and suspects, risking cross-contamination.
He refused but believes other doctors employed by G4S Medical Services may have done so.
The allegation will further undermine confidence in the Criminal Justice System following the collapse of two rape trials caused by the failure of Metropolitan Police to disclose evidence.
Dr Hopkins, in a letter published in the Daily Telegraph, said he feared the “collapse of the cases of Liam Allan, Isaac Itiary and others” may be “only the tip of the iceberg”.
The Metropolitan Police has ordered an urgent review of every live rape investigation, including 30 cases about to go to trial.
Agree with Dr Hopkins, and whilst one has no respect for Peter Gill the man nor the dodgy, defunct FSS, he did predict privatisation would be catastrophic.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/privatisation-is-a-catastrophe-warns-godfather-of-forensics-7606789.html
Should anyone still be wondering why the courts are inundated with alleged historical child abuse and current alleged rape cases, one need look no further than the gutter press and the germalists who will jump on any old bandwagon to see their name at the top of a page in the dead tree press. Any page will do. No matter if it’s a page which long lost advertisers flatly refused to pay for. That space must be filled. Enter a germalist…
Sonia Poulton and her team of gang-stalkers’ conspiracy to harm was exposed at the 11th hour, after senior CPS were forced to intervene in the unprecedented case of Darren Laverty.
Anyone questioning this piece of work, or her piece of work below, will find themselves standing accused of being a paedophile, or of storing child abuse images on their hard drive. They may receive death threats, or threats of assault and battery. Some of her victims were raided at dawn on the instructions of the London Met police, who had deliberately and consistently refused to investigate four years of reports made against Poulton and her Team Outlaw gang – prior to them making false arrests on her behalf. Despite her victims making constant reports to police in various parts of Britain, in order to prevent the arrests which Poulton and her gang were consistently demanding of police to carry out. Each of Poulton’s victims acted in accordance with chiefs of police who state the below:
“We would encourage anybody who is the subject of this type of behaviour to have no hesitation in reporting what is happening to the police and to be reassured that police and prosecutors take such offences extremely seriously.”
Only during and after disclosure in Darren Laverty’s case, did it begin to become apparent how many police divisions had collectively used dozens of police officers in order to satisfy Poulton and Team Outlaw’s thirst for blood. Thus it became apparent how many police officers were willing to put their oath on hold by consistently and deliberately refusing to investigate complaints made by this piece of work and her gang.
And all of those police officers colluded with Poulton and her gang, Not knowing how much Poulton and Team Outlaw despise the police, the monarchy, and the British justice system. “All police are freemasons, paedophile protectors and bent bastards.” She has often shrieked. *Permit me a lol.*
When her case was flung out of court, she stated she had proven her point. The system is against her. *Permit me a huge lol.*
Below, are a few extracts from a piece of work written by the piece of work in 2012. Note we are told Tom Watson had barely begun to scratch the surface when this was written. Leaving intrepid feminazis such as MP Jess Phillips still sweating in fear and loathing on the narrow winding staircases of the House of Commons from 2015.
Is Watson still scratching that surface? One must assume he must be scratching behind the scenes since the last General Election, as he appears to have disappeared up his own arse on the subject of Westminster paedophile gangs roaming the corridors with children in the dead of night…
How to create mass hysteria with one page of a rag. Poulton has ‘lists’ of hundreds of proven paedophiles. It is unknown after five years whether the lists of paedophiles have been handed over to the London Met. If they haven’t, we must assume hundreds if not thousands of children are still being raped and tortured by those ‘hundreds’ of proven paedophiles on her lists…
Poulton: “Well I can tell Mr Cameron that this claim is not sensational, anything but. In fact Tom Watson has barely scratched the surface.”
“I have compiled a list of 132 utterly shameless establishment child abusers. These include MPs, lords and local councillors. A similar list for members of Her Majesty’s Constabulary exists.”
“As a journalist, and in light of the Savile revelations, people have contacted me desperate to share their abuse stories.”
“Why did Ken Clarke, as justice minister, halve sentences of paedophiles last year in a controversial announcement?”
“Judging by some of the testimonies I have heard it is likely to be very shocking indeed. There is no alternative. The victims need the truth to be told, no matter how powerful or connected their abusers may prove to be.”
Should you wish to read this piece of work’s piece of work in its entirety, you will find it here:
https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/354945/Sex-abuse-is-guilty-secret
Golly, is this another one?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5202449/Tory-MPs-aide-CLEARED-raping-woman.html
Danny Kay’s successful appeal reported today against his rape conviction suggests that, as many have long suspected, the Police bias against men in alleged rape cases goes even deeper than that exposed in the Liam Allen case. In Mr Kay’s case the Police look to have accepted as fact Mr Kay’s accuser’s version of events, without attempting to verify the (as it now transpires) edited and skewed Facebook evidence that the accuser provided. So the skewing of evidence in favour of the complainant more worryingly now appears to extend to perhaps only following those lines of enquiry which support the complainant and, as evidence only has to be disclosed to the defence if the Police have this, the scales are weighted even further against the defendant. In this case it appears that this poor man has spent 4 years in prison for a crime which, similar to Mr Allen’s case, simply did not happen. One wonders how much of this comes from the requirement for the Police to refer to (and therefore view) accusers as victims rather than complainants. With yet another false allegation uncovered it now seems dangerous to continue to give credence to those activists who tell us that “false accusations of rape are incredibly rare”. Their research is surely faulty as it really is becoming apparent that this is most certainly not the case.
Concur. Prior to social media, when it was not so easy to steal stories from genuine victims or fantasists, false allegations of rape and abuse were indeed rare. Perhaps only two or three reports in every hundred would be deemed false or suspicious.
However, the sharing of abuse stories on social media, and a new breed of germalist appearing on the scene who would ring people up at all hours of the night, touting for salacious stories involving any household names, Tory politicians in general, and Liberal politicians in particular, false allegations began to increase at a rate of knots.
During a telephone call to an alleged victim, a germalist would ask the abused about distinguishing scars on the alleged rapist’s body; whether they had a distinctive scent; if they drank, what did they drink; whether they smoked and what brands; what cars they drove etc.
The germalist would squirrel away all information gleaned, and ease it into conversations when ringing other alleged victims up about the same household names. Remarkably, from initially recalling very little, an alleged victim would suddenly recover repressed memories of a packet of Senior Service and a Ronson hidden in a piece of Huguenot silver, which they are sure was sitting on a black Bombe chest next to a fireplace, where they now suddenly recall being forced to roast chestnuts for men dressed in tutus, whose chauffeurs would eventually drive them home, so they could be back in their own beds before their parents alarm clocks went off in time for work.
By the end of a phone call with a germalist, the alleged victim was now justifiably prepared and bristling enough to become a complainant, and would be packed off to Exaro or other dodgy news outlets asap. Whilst they’re hot. And before you could say Slater and Gordon, some poor bastard going about his business in the House of Commons or Lords, would be branded a rapist all over twitter and facebook. It really is that simple.
And if the story was especially salacious, an Exaggero journalist would accompany the complainant to the police station, to ensure every detail was written down in a statement. Upon leaving the police station, a germalist’s tweet would appear with just enough information in it to drive twitter into a frenzy, guessing at who the latest Westminster paedophile may be.
All in a day’s work for a germalist…
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Here’s today’s Mail coverage of that case. It all sounds quite shameful.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5223567/Man-rape-conviction-quashed-police-blunder.html
I am disturbed by the discrepancy in sentences for this and GBH, especially when you consider the indisputable, visible, tangible evidence of the GBH. Is it that Englishmen are deemed dispensable, as policemen used to be in the 19th century?
A gang of older men beat and kicked my 17 year old son, leaving him without teeth and in hospital on a drip for four days, jaw smashed and unconscious. One wasn’t charged, two got off, and the fourth got 140 hours of community service. The police had lost the camera with the photographs of the physical damage done, and the CPS didn’t bring the case for over a year. The defendants were very well represented each with their own solicitor and barrister, but the prosecution counsel was old, frail, and unsupported. As so many who have gone through our “justice ” system I was left feeling the cure was almost as bad as the disease.
PS Unlike in a typical case of alleged rape, there were several witnesses and two lots of CCTV evidence.
Something has confused me that you’ve said here, and I’d hope you can help. You’ve said:
‘The case collapsed after three days when analysis of the complainant’s mobile phone was finally revealed to the persistent prosecution barrister, former Tory MP (and now incidentally the renowned legal blogger) Jerry Hayes’
I thought it was the defence lawyer who found these messages and effectively saved their client? That is what the newspaper articles I’ve read are saying (such as below):
‘“I took the disk away to discover there were 40,000 messages on it,” Ms Smart told The Independent.
“I read them through the night and into the next morning. It was laborious but I found messages that completely undermined the case.”’
If I’m wrong here I’d really appreciate a correction, because if Allan owes his freedom to the prosecuting barrister that really is, as you say, incredible.
I’m open to correction but my reading of the newspapers told me that it was only on the insistence of Hayes, the new prosecution barrister, that the evidence was at last turned over to the defence.
This implies that the previous prosecution barrister, and the defence lawyers, had been pathetically ineffective before Hayes arrived on the scene.
When you have the police releasing statements before Christmas that kissing someone under the mistletoe without consent is rape, then you truly know that the lunatics have taken over the asylum. You also know what a bunch of uneducated f**kwits our boys in blue are. And before anyone asks, one of my friends is a Chief Inspector and he agrees with me ! Says it all really.
please could you spare a few minutes to watch my YouTube video. Just search “Tracey Birch Police Corruption” My husband was convicted and dismissed due to non disclosure of vital evidence. The evidence which was a video was only revealed at trial when the defence barrister threatened to adjourn. My husbands case represents what can happen if you are not lucky enough to have a fair and reasonable CPS barrister as in the case of Liam Allen. It is of enormous importance to the public that my husbands case represents the level of corruption that the police are willing to become involved in to cover their backs. It is not just the met it happens everywhere and seems to have become national custom and practice.
https://youtu.be/G11WT8XLWwE
If the link doesn’t work please take the time to search under the criteria above. Thankyou.
It’s good to see that ‘all current rape and serious sexual assault cases in England and Wales are being reviewed by senior prosecutors to ensure evidence has been disclosed, as reported on the BBC News website. It is interesting that he BBC’s legal correspondent, Clive Coleman, said that ‘It also begs the question of why the review is confined to rape and sexual assault cases when many believe the problems of disclosure are systemic.’
Maybe this is the start of a ‘journey ‘ for the Police and the CPS on a long road to re-balancing the justice system. “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are” – Benjamin Franklin
“Maybe this is the start of a ‘journey ‘ for the Police and the CPS on a long road to re-balancing the justice system.”
seriously? what planet have u been living on for the last two decades? the corrupted system is DELIBERATE, always been part of the plan….and the BBC is propaganda and that particular statement was so predictable…it really comes as no surprise….if there was any seriousness in sorting the problems out then the perps responsible would be in gaol on remand awaiting trial…
Has the victim here been awarded compensation or is he in the process of suing does anybody know? If they had followed through and actually convicted him he wouldn’t be entitled….but as one of them ‘broke ranks’ and screwed up the prosecution, he surely is?