Why Are The Police And The False Accusers Not Getting Prosecuted?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-crown-prosecution-service-disclosure-lawyers-trial-a7846021.html - evidence is routinely and illegally being withheld from the defence.
On News 24 just now another bloke hauled over the coals for sexual assault in a supermarket. Guess what the CCTV exonerates him. Plod claimed the video was too distant etc. Cobras this is clear perversion of the course of justice. Not to mention the false accuser. This will do the real cases no good at all when the pendulum inevitably swings back and no victim will be believed. Have we all got to walk around with body cams?

[Islay]

Whilst I agree some of them (a small minority) will be false accusers other will be those that feel that they are attacked or groped or mishandled.
As for the police I am not sure what the answer is - is it down to how someone sees it compared to how someone else sees it.
I am not sure of the definition of a sexual attack but is it not an unwanted handling?
I don't have the answer but I do think false accusers is the wrong words to use.

[ToraToraTora]

but they are deliberately withholding evidence, this is not incompetence it's intent. I cannot think of a clear perversion of the course of justice.

[Islay]

Who is withholding evidence the police? Is that not down to CPS to ensure that the evidence is all included?

[ToraToraTora]

yes the police initially but no doubt the CPS are complicit. The whole thing stinks to high heaven.

[Spicerack]

Our 'common purpose' police come across as highly politicised nowadays. (to me and plenty of others)

[Spicerack]

Yes, and the CPS. Must be a nightmare to be on the receiving end of all their jiggery-pokery.

[Spicerack]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09snj9b

[Gromit]

This isn’t really new.
The Police have been under pressure for decades to have a good clear up rate. To such an extent that they cheat to get a successful prosecution.
This used to involve getting career criminals, when caught, coughing up to hundreds of crimes (many of which they couldn’t have done).
The latest cheat, withholding evidence from the defence, is deliberate, and makes the likelihood of a successful prosecution (and therefore a clear up).

Why there is not a big stink (and prosecutions) when the cheat is revealed, is because everyone is in on the cheat. The government, the regulators, the police and the CPS want more succesful prosecutions, and are not really too bothered how they get them.

[Spicerack]

^Best answer material there, TTT.

[emmie]

i was glad that chap was cleared, no idea what happened to the girls who accused him of inappropriate behaviour, but i would have liked them to get a short sharp shock, say in prison for a few weeks to tell them they can't do this sort of thing without consequences.

[jim360]

It's not clear to me that the women in any of these cases are necessarily "false accusers", though. What appears to have happened is that evidence has come to light that either casts doubt on the women's account or, at least, makes it very difficult to prove the third of the three definitions of rape, namely "lack of reasonable belief of consent".

It depends on the nature of the evidence. If it relies on messages beforehand that show that the two people were in contact and flirting and arranging to have sex then, for sure, a case would struggle to make it to court because at that point it comes down to "he said, she said" -- but it's clearly possible to intend to have sex with someone and then get cold feet at the instant before it actually happens.

Nor am I saying that in these cases, in fact, the women *were* raped and the lucky *** have got away with one. I'm just trying to make the point that the opposite of rape isn't a liar who deserves jail. Historically rape cases have struggled for want of evidence and, in general, it's very difficult to secure a conviction no matter how obviously it was rape to all concerned. Apparently the pressure to try and secure convictions has led to bad practice by the police and/or the CPS, pushing cases without realistic prospects of conviction or deliberately withholding "unhelpful" evidence, and both of those practices have to stop years ago -- but let's be careful not to throw the blame at the feet of the women concerned. At least, not without the fair trial that the men accused were (nearly) denied.

[Old_Geezer]

I think that there's a difference between insufficient evidence and having CCTV evidence that an accusation is incorrect, yet deliberately ignored.

The main point of withholding, not to mention ignoring, evidence is still valid.

[naomi24]

Perhaps its financially expedient to ignore cases deemed to be 'ignorable'. Those who do make false accusations though should never escape justice. They should be prosecuted and named every time.

[youngmafbog]

//It's not clear to me that the women in any of these cases are necessarily "false accusers", though//

So when evidence shows, without a doubt, that the accused is innocent surely it has to follow it is a false accusation?

Yes, there are many getting acquitted at Court for insufficient evidence but the cases TTT is referring to are not that, Plod are deliberately withholding evidence that they know will show the defendant didn't do it. A deliberate stich up, they Plod and the false accusers, should be prosecuted with the full force of the law and the Chief constable should be demoted or fired.

[ToraToraTora]

jim, I am talking about the Police/CPS deliberating perverting the course of justice by illegally hiding evidence from the defence. This appears to be endemic.

[meglet]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3435317/Tried-sex-crime-brushed-past-film-star-rush-hour.html

I don’t understand why this woman wasn’t prosecuted. There was no he said, she said in this instance - CCTV evidence clearly showed she had lied.

It stinks. And it will disempower women in reportins sexual assaults in the long run.

[david small]

If you look at the statue above The Old Bailey you will see that justice is blind.

[ToraToraTora]

yes meglet, BA, that's the worry, in the end the real cases will suffer.