Guilty Until Proven Innocent?

[Deskdiary]

I cannot imagine the mental anguish this poor young man has had to endure for the past two years following an entirely made-up and malicious accusation of rape.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5181277/Judge-slams-police-rape-trial-student.html

Are we getting to the point where there is an assumption on the part of the police of guilt, and that in some cases (I said some - I would have put it in italics if I knew how to), evidence to the contrary is a little inconvenient? It certainly would appear so in this case.

[emmie]

poor man, the police should be taken to task over this awful case.

[murraymints]

OMG ..why am I not surprised at plod ??

[naomi24]

//Are we getting to the point where there is an assumption on the part of the police of guilt//

I don’t understand how it benefited the police to withhold evidence but I think society in general has certainly reached a point where an assumption of guilt is a given. Awful, just awful.

[albaqwerty]

the police didn't send info to the defence team 'to keep costs down' - dear lawd !!
so justice comes with a price-tag now?

Hope the book also gets thrown at the accuser.

[Jackdaw33]

The CPS must also take a large proportion of the blame. When I was a law student it was made clear to us that if you performed poorly in exams and just managed to scrape through, so that no decent firm would employ you, there was always the CPS as a last resort.

[naomi24]

alba, thanks for the explanation. Disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful.

[mikey4444]

DD...this case raises some disturbing points. The Judge has called for an enquiry.

[albaqwerty]

it most certainly is disgraceful Naomi, couldn't agree more.

[naomi24]

alba, scary too ....

[Togo]

//Mr Allan's lawyers were denied access to the woman's telephone records after police insisted there was nothing of interest for the defence or prosecution.//

Damned lies from the police again! Charge them with perverting the course of justice or perjury if possible. "Never trust a priest or a policeman." I remember my dad saying that when I was but a boy. I thought he was mad, as everybody else was telling me the opposite. How right he turned out to be. Wonder if plod was using a bit of "social profiling" when deciding to manipulate the ""evidence""?

[naomi24]

/Charge them [the police] with perverting the course of justice or perjury if possible. //

Yes - and name her and charge her too.

[Jackdaw33]

The offence of wasting police time should be more than enough to deal with this little madam.

[naomi24]

A 'little madam' is not what I'd call her. She should have the book thrown at her!

[Jackdaw33]

The word I was going to use instead of madam would have been starred out.

[Cloverjo]

Terrible. I'd just read about this in the paper.
Such an awful thing to be accused of. I hope they charge the woman. Prison wouldn't be too strong a punishment for what she's put this poor man through.

[albaqwerty]

fingers crossed she will have 'friends' who will out her on social media

Have a vague memory of reading that a person who falsely accused someone of rape was sentenced to 10 years.

[Peter Pedant]

// A 'little madam' is not what I'd call her. She should have the book thrown at her!//

come come - let us not assume she is guilty ( well- of everything) until proven innocent....

rather than spout endless ly on AB I did write to the DPP about these cases ( one case - acquitted in eight minutes, hardly enough time to get your bottom into a chair..) and she said the system ( which she had changed) was meant to work like that ....

and yes the change came with an assurance that the woman complainant would be believed ....

the result was that a lot more 'he did! no I didnt!' cases with no other evidence went to the jury

[EDDIE51]

Jackdaw has a good point. The best lawyers specialise in defence, the CPS is regarded as a second choice for those who are not good enough to get places as defence solicitors. That unfortunately will never change.

[mikey4444]

The CPS reminds me of that Woody Allen line ::::

Those that can, teach, those that can't, teach Gym.

[Jackdaw33]

I spent a lot of time in Magistrates' Courts observing. I found the CPS lawyers in general to be shoddy, ill-prepared and quite often inarticulate. The only cases they seemed to win were those where the defendant pleaded guilty. Should a not guilty plea be entered they had to ask for an adjournment in order to get their act together.