Devasted at my fathers conviction

[DevastedDaughter]

Last Friday my 60+ year old father was convicted and sentenced for 7 years, 3.5 in prison if he admits his guilt, for sexual assault.

In 2006 he was arrested and then the charges dropped on accusations from his own grandaughter, you can see in point 1 below why the grandaughter case was dropped...she just wanted money!!

1.5 years later my dad and his wife were forced by his wifes sister to look after her 2 children as she had to go away, they didnt want to but she wouldnt stop hassling them. she was well aware of the previous allegations!

6 months after the stay he was arrested again! The sisters claimed he had abused them during their stay and also claimed they knew that i had been abused by him when i was younger - I WAS NOT - can you imagine my shock?! Their statements dont even make sense as the say they were together, yet they are completely different accounts! Plus some of the 'incidents' are totally ridulous and taking place in the next room to a room full of people!

He is not guilty of any of the accusations, i just wish i could prove the link and that the families have been in contact! They all know each other, all the girls were bridesmaids along with myself at my dads wedding!

Im mainly looking for some advice around grounds for an appeal on the following points from the trial:

POINT 1: 3 of the prosection witnesses were proven by the defence barrister as lying under oath during the trial.
The 'victim' (my neice) had previoulsy convicted someone and received compensation. The defence barrister requested all info from social services which we then found contained a record of the police officer calling the father after the ABE and the father reporting that after the ABE they got into the car and the 'victim' asked - How much money will i get for this one? The records also stated that the social worker and police officer were concerned about the victims inability to detail the events at all and having to be led into disclosing any sort of details.
When on the stand the father denied this conversation ever happended and stated that had it of happened it would of made him doubt his daughters accusations! The records were passed to the jury to show he lied under oath.
The mother, father and 'victim' then denied ever telling the 'victim' about the compensation, which they did as we were witnesses to it!

POINT 2: The 'victim' then lied again when she was produced with a photo of her dancing with her grandfather very happily at his wedding (after which she says the abuse stopped!) she denied it was her in the picture. She then had to admit her lie when another photo was produced at the same wedding that she couldnt deny was her.

POINT 3: The judges summing up was bias. Throughout his summing up he did not mention any of the very good defence points that can prove his innocence, such as the money comments and only covered prosection stuff! He also told the jury that if they thought he was guilty on just one of the counts they HAD to find him guilty on all counts and he would not accept a multi-verdict and would send them away again.

We are all completely confused by the verdict, especially on the counts to do with the grandaughter as the barrister exposed them in front of the jury as liars so we can only put it down to the judges summing up and direction!

Any advice on whether this is anything good enough for an appeal would be greatly appreciated. My Dad is now in prison and his life ruined all for money and greed.

Thank you.

[Saffron]

Hi and welcome.

I am so sorry to hear of what has happened to your Dad. I'm afraid I don't know much about grounds for appeal and the legal aspect, but I do understand absolutely your frustration and disbelief.

Unfortunately, very often juries go with their hearts rather than their heads...they think "well, something must have happened otherwise it wouldn't have got this far" and "poor child, having to relive this nightmare" and so on. Also bear in mind the very powerful image of a "victim" giving evidence from behind a screen, "too frightened" to face the man in the dock. Highly compelling to some people. That is sometimes all the jury sees. Wrong? Yes. But it does happen, unfortunately. They don't look for evidence that may prove no crime took place, they are simply decided to ask who they believe.

I am sure someone will be along soon who can advise you on the material for appeal. However, what little I know is this: unless you can prove that the trial was manifestly unfair, or that the judge was biased in his summing up (the account of the overheard conversation could well have come under the "hearsay" rule and would therefore be inadmissible) then the only way you can launch an appeal would be if new evidence comes to light. This new evidence would have to NOT have been available at the time of the original trial. As I say, I am not 100% sure on this, but I am confident that someone will be along soon who does know.

During my husband's trial his accuser told 3 provable lies (one about how much she'd had to drink, another about their conversations that evening, and another about the hotel they were staying in). But the jury chose not to take this into account.

I know it sounds like a platitude, but try to stay strong. I hope you will get the assistance you need here.

[Rights Fighter]

Grounds for appeal are notoriously difficult to find in sex cases.

Anything that the jury heard, such as lies, inconsistencies etc cannot be grounds for appeal. The jury heard them yet convicted despite them.

Last Friday my 60+ year old father was convicted and sentenced for 7 years, 3.5 in prison if he admits his guilt, for sexual assault.

I think you mean that if he undertakes SOTP he has more chance of release at the half way point. I know of some guys who continually protested their innocence who were release half way on parole but they made use of an experience prison law solicitor. Probation and prison officers tell lies - he does not have to undertake SOTP in order to get out on parole. His age makes him less risk of "re-offending" is one point.

In 2006 he was arrested and then the charges dropped on accusations from his own grandaughter, you can see in point 1 below why the grandaughter case was dropped...she just wanted money!!

1.5 years later my dad and his wife were forced by his wifes sister to look after her 2 children as she had to go away, they didnt want to but she wouldnt stop hassling them. she was well aware of the previous allegations!

6 months after the stay he was arrested again! The sisters claimed he had abused them during their stay and also claimed they knew that i had been abused by him when i was younger - I WAS NOT - can you imagine my shock?! Their statements dont even make sense as the say they were together, yet they are completely different accounts! Plus some of the 'incidents' are totally ridulous and taking place in the next room to a room full of people!

He is not guilty of any of the accusations, i just wish i could prove the link and that the families have been in contact! They all know each other, all the girls were bridesmaids along with myself at my dads wedding!

Im mainly looking for some advice around grounds for an appeal on the following points from the trial:

POINT 1: 3 of the prosection witnesses were proven by the defence barrister as lying under oath during the trial.
The 'victim' (my neice) had previoulsy convicted someone and received compensation. The defence barrister requested all info from social services which we then found contained a record of the police officer calling the father after the ABE and the father reporting that after the ABE they got into the car and the 'victim' asked - How much money will i get for this one? The records also stated that the social worker and police officer were concerned about the victims inability to detail the events at all and having to be led into disclosing any sort of details.

When on the stand the father denied this conversation ever happended and stated that had it of happened it would of made him doubt his daughters accusations! The records were passed to the jury to show he lied under oath.
The mother, father and 'victim' then denied ever telling the 'victim' about the compensation, which they did as we were witnesses to it!

The jury heard this so cannot go behind the decision of the jury.

POINT 2: The 'victim' then lied again when she was produced with a photo of her dancing with her grandfather very happily at his wedding (after which she says the abuse stopped!) she denied it was her in the picture. She then had to admit her lie when another photo was produced at the same wedding that she couldnt deny was her.

As above, jury heard this so cannot be used as a ground.

POINT 3: The judges summing up was bias. Throughout his summing up he did not mention any of the very good defence points that can prove his innocence, such as the money comments and only covered prosection stuff! He also told the jury that if they thought he was guilty on just one of the counts they HAD to find him guilty on all counts and he would not accept a multi-verdict and would send them away again.

There might be something there - I'd have to see the JSU or you could contact a solicitor with regards to appeal about this.

We are all completely confused by the verdict, especially on the counts to do with the grandaughter as the barrister exposed them in front of the jury as liars so we can only put it down to the judges summing up and direction!

Was an application made during the course of the trial, especially after the evidence for the Crown that the matter should be dropped as an abuse of process? That the evidence from the complainants was so inconsistent that it was unsafe for it to be left to the jury?

Any advice on whether this is anything good enough for an appeal would be greatly appreciated. My Dad is now in prison and his life ruined all for money and greed.

Thank you.

Please do not put any identifying information on this forum as it is public and anybody, including the police can see it. Please feel free to PM me.

[friday]

unfortunately it is far from easy to get a retrial/appeal or anything of that sort. sexual crimes have such a low conviction rate that he cps will be reluctant to let a guilt verdict go as it affects statistics. but it is not just the accused that have this problem. i could not get a retrial despite the fact he lied under oath and this particular lie was a key part of his defence. it costs a lot to go to court after all.

Sorry I can't offer any real practical legal advice. Listen to Rights fighter

[DevastedDaughter]

Thank you very much for your replies.

Rights Finder - thank you for the comments, they are really useful. Especially around that the barrister should of argued out them bringing in the previous allegation. This gives us a lot to go on with our discussions with the barrister when we go over an appeal! From the research ive done if the barrister resists to appeal we can get a second opinion from another law firm which is good as we can get the chance to pick more wisely. I think we totally underestimated the importance of finding a law firm with more experience in the area!

Thank you all so much for you comments.

p.s - i have emailed an administrator as i want to edit the post so it doesnt contain so many descriptive details.

Thanks all