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I am now currently 40 years of age and up until 16 lived with my father, who put me out to fend for myself at the age of 16.
I ended up in a b&b that was connected to the social work dept, and stayed there happily for around 4 years. Granted I left on rather acrimonious circumstances, but thats not the main issue.
The family i stayed with had a grand daughter, who at the time must have been about 9-10 years old. From memory i always remembered her as a very withdrawn child, and never really had much contact with her at all, her mother and father stayed 400 miles away so visited fairly infrequently, and even when they did move closer to home I still did not have much ado with the child. I could count on one hand the conversations we had in the 4 years i lived there, and indeed struggle to recollect any time when i was on my own with her.
Fast forward to the present day, I now no longer have any contact with my father, nor do I have any contact with any of his side of the family, for various reasons, but the main one was an issue that was never discussed openly in public etc but there were comments made by various members of that side of the family, one in particular was my cousin calling me a beast on Facebook.
I did not think much of the comment at the time, until I decided one day to visit the couple that I had lived with when I was 16-20. They answered the door and were very defensive indeed they were not exactly wellcoming me through the door. (Which i could understand due to the circumstances I left in, but after 20+ years i thought time may have alleviated their ill feeling).
Eventually they let me through the door and we got chatting. They asked me if I had been in contact with my family (eg My Dad, his mother etc) and when I said no, we dont speak anymore, she said do you know why they are not speaking to you? I relaid the story of what had happened over the years, and they then said no thats not the reason, its because you raped our grand daughter.
Dumbfounded i sat and listened to the story of how their grand daughter had accused me 15+ years ago, and how the girl in questions mother had moved in two doors along from my fathers mother (my gran). Turns out the daughter had seen a car driving past one day and a guy driving had red hair (i had strawberry blonde hair when I was younger, but it turned dark brown around 20). Anyways, the girl saw this guy had a panic attack and started accusing me pf rape allegedly?
The mother of the girl, nor any of the family found me to ask me right out if the accusation was true or not. they never pursued the issue through legal channels, and indeed in all of the 20+ years that passed, no one ever publically accused or asked me . It also turns out the girl accusing me is scyzophrenic and has varying mental health issues. not that I am saying that this is the reason for the false accusation, im saying that it could be an underlying issue though.
Speaking to the couple I had lived with for those 4 years, the more i thought if this was the case and you actively thought i was a rapist, why are you even explaining the issue to me in your house? why are you sitting watching me hold a 2 year old daughter and then sit there and accuse me of rape. Why if you knew where I lived (i lived 6 miles away from them for the 20+ years) and thought i was guilty did you not pursue it ?
Anyways the long and short of the story is that the young girls mother who stays near my gran has now decided to tell her that I raped her daughter, my gran in turn has told my father, and various other members of that side of the family, who in turn have now been telling people that I raped a young underage girl. And obviously this explains all those catty comments and the issue that was never discussed that basically escalated the family feud.
An accusation I strenously deny, my question is if I have any right to goto a lawyer to warn my family off from making defamatory statements, that are obviously slanderous and untrue. I am getting people walking up to me in the street and having a go at me publically over this matter because they are being told third, fourth, fifth hand information.
I ended up in a b&b that was connected to the social work dept, and stayed there happily for around 4 years. Granted I left on rather acrimonious circumstances, but thats not the main issue.
The family i stayed with had a grand daughter, who at the time must have been about 9-10 years old. From memory i always remembered her as a very withdrawn child, and never really had much contact with her at all, her mother and father stayed 400 miles away so visited fairly infrequently, and even when they did move closer to home I still did not have much ado with the child. I could count on one hand the conversations we had in the 4 years i lived there, and indeed struggle to recollect any time when i was on my own with her.
Fast forward to the present day, I now no longer have any contact with my father, nor do I have any contact with any of his side of the family, for various reasons, but the main one was an issue that was never discussed openly in public etc but there were comments made by various members of that side of the family, one in particular was my cousin calling me a beast on Facebook.
I did not think much of the comment at the time, until I decided one day to visit the couple that I had lived with when I was 16-20. They answered the door and were very defensive indeed they were not exactly wellcoming me through the door. (Which i could understand due to the circumstances I left in, but after 20+ years i thought time may have alleviated their ill feeling).
Eventually they let me through the door and we got chatting. They asked me if I had been in contact with my family (eg My Dad, his mother etc) and when I said no, we dont speak anymore, she said do you know why they are not speaking to you? I relaid the story of what had happened over the years, and they then said no thats not the reason, its because you raped our grand daughter.
Dumbfounded i sat and listened to the story of how their grand daughter had accused me 15+ years ago, and how the girl in questions mother had moved in two doors along from my fathers mother (my gran). Turns out the daughter had seen a car driving past one day and a guy driving had red hair (i had strawberry blonde hair when I was younger, but it turned dark brown around 20). Anyways, the girl saw this guy had a panic attack and started accusing me pf rape allegedly?
The mother of the girl, nor any of the family found me to ask me right out if the accusation was true or not. they never pursued the issue through legal channels, and indeed in all of the 20+ years that passed, no one ever publically accused or asked me . It also turns out the girl accusing me is scyzophrenic and has varying mental health issues. not that I am saying that this is the reason for the false accusation, im saying that it could be an underlying issue though.
Speaking to the couple I had lived with for those 4 years, the more i thought if this was the case and you actively thought i was a rapist, why are you even explaining the issue to me in your house? why are you sitting watching me hold a 2 year old daughter and then sit there and accuse me of rape. Why if you knew where I lived (i lived 6 miles away from them for the 20+ years) and thought i was guilty did you not pursue it ?
Anyways the long and short of the story is that the young girls mother who stays near my gran has now decided to tell her that I raped her daughter, my gran in turn has told my father, and various other members of that side of the family, who in turn have now been telling people that I raped a young underage girl. And obviously this explains all those catty comments and the issue that was never discussed that basically escalated the family feud.
An accusation I strenously deny, my question is if I have any right to goto a lawyer to warn my family off from making defamatory statements, that are obviously slanderous and untrue. I am getting people walking up to me in the street and having a go at me publically over this matter because they are being told third, fourth, fifth hand information.
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