My fight is ON!!

[Psychojock]

Hi everyone, I've finally got the basics sorted out to post here. Any opinions/advice would be appreciated. I already have a solicitor(it was the one assigned to me but he is good and deals with these cases almost all of the time) and I have been assigned an advocate(Scottish Barrister) for my upcoming trial.
Well, here it is:-

I was “detained”, on a Friday morning, at my place of work in Kent in October of last year, by two Scottish CID Officers, accompanied by two Kent Officers. It was explained to me what I was being detained for. I was then driven by the two Scottich officers to Manston Airport and after an hour-ish wait, they took me on to a plane and flew me to Edinburgh. I was then taken to a Fife police station and after beinf “booked in” I was told I was going to be questioned. I was allowed to phone the Legal helpline and I was assigned a solicitor. He duly arrived and I was questioned on the following allegations:-

3 counts of rape of a child (sorry I said 4 in my “Hello” post)
1 count of lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour to a child
2 counts of assault on a child

All of these are historical in nature dating back as far as 1999!!

To cut a very long story short, during the course of the questioning I denied everything and was then formally arrested and charged and had fingerprints, photo and DNA taken. I was put in a cell and told I was to go before the local Sherriff on Monday. After a weekend in police custody, my case was the last to be heard on the Monday and I was given conditional bail(Sign on at my local police station twice a week) and told I could go.

I am 500 miles from home, very little cash with me and it's six thirty in the evening!! I eventually got home to Kent just after midday on the Tuesday.

I have never been so scared, humiliated and angry all at the same time before in my life!

Luckily, my then Fiancee,(I'm happy to report, now my wife) stood by me as she knew that this was all a fabrication.

We have all since ridden the emotional rolloercoaster and can't wait for it all to be over. My legal team seem to be on the ball and have started seriously picking apart the prosecution evidence, lots of contradictory statement from the 2 accussers and 1 witness(These are my Ex from 9 years ago and her 2 daughters).

It is all beased on what the two daughters have said and obviously as it never happened, there is NO evidence or witnesses. The one thing I have been warned by my legal team is that the prosecution case will try to use the "Moorov" doctrine to secure a conviction.

Any comments/ideas/advice anyone? All will be gratefully received.

Rgds

[Faith]

Hi there.
A particularly traumatic experience for you seeing as you had to be flown all the way to Edinburgh to be questioned.
There are a couple of people who are experienced with Scottish systems here who will offer advice to you based on their own cases. Izzy and lawlessone spring to mind, but apologies if there are others I have forgotten.

Do you still have contact with your ex. Why has this suddenly come up now...any ideas of motives at all?
I am glad that your wife is standing by you; congratulations on your marriage and hats off to you for being able to focus on it with all of this horrible stuff going on.

These are vile allegations but with a good legal team behind you, they are fightable, especially as they are finding inconsistencies in the statements.
How old are the two accusers now? Are they in adulthood? Could they be aware of the compensation they will be entitled to?

You say you have an expert in these cases...I sincerely hope you've looked into that and not just taken it on his word (some solicitors will say anything to get some business in this economic climate!) You cannot underestimate the importance of having a specialist solicitor on board. If he is a specialist then it is good that you have had him all the way from questioning stage.

Thanks for sharing your story. It's a horrible place to be in, but you will find support here.

[Psychojock]

Hi Faith,
Thank you for the reply and I hope Izzy or lawlessone see this and maybe give an opinion too. I haven't had any contact with my ex since mid 2004-ish. The allegations came about as her third (and youngest) daughter made allegations against her new husband and a former neighbour,(this youngest child now live elsewhere with her biological father). To avoid any confusion at this point i must just add that we were never married and she had 3 daughters when I met her. For some reason, after this youngest one made the allegations, her two sisters were contacted and they both accused me!! Additionally, my ex has given a statement(my lawyer says it runs to 6 sides of A4), accusing me of violence to her, her daughters and rape against her but she is not pressing charges!! As for the two girls who are accusing me, one would be in her late teens and one would be in her early twenties. The only motive I can think of is that about 18 months ago I was contacted by a solictor asking my permission to sell the haouse we used to live in together(when we split, I left her everything!!) It turns out that they needed this as she was being made bankrupt and the Accountant In Bankruptcy needed the permission to sell the house to clear her debts. I replied with a stipulation that permission would be given if I recieved an amount of money from the sale(a token amount, given the value of the house). This was 18 - 24 months ago. As for, is my lawyer an expert in defending against false allegations? I don't know for sure but he handles rape cases for the majority of his work. I have also had a telephone meeting with him and the advocate just recently and SHE seems to really know her stuff, so I am encouraged a little bit. I'm sorry if I've missed anything out.

Kind Regards.

[Psychojock]

Just one thing I have forgotten to say so far. I am VERY glad to have stumbled accross this site and am incredibly grateful for the warm welcome I have received!!!

[Faith]

Hi thanks for your detailed reply.

Straight away I see a motive for money...the word bankruptcy rings alarm bells. You may or may not know that just by raising an allegation, a complainant can be entitled to thousands of pounds, even if the accused is not charged.

I am wondering if these girls got the idea from their sister's allegation. Certainly an avenue to think along if it gets to that stage. Either they wanted the attention she was getting or found out she was entitled to money perhaps?

All speculation of course, but there do seem to be motives here. Have you researched your solicitor online?

Lawlessone and Izzy are very active members, they will see this thread before too long. Everyone else will be able to help in many ways too, but those two have dealt with the Scottish systems so can be more specific in that sense.

[Psychojock]

I must admit, the Bankruptcy bit did briefly occurr to me, but I thought this was an extreme way to get compensation so I didn't really consider it for long. As for looking up my Solictor on-line, it never occurred to (Techie hangs head in shame!). I'll have a dig and see what i come up with and post in due course, thank you for suggesting it.

Kind Regards.

[Faith]

Careful not to post anything that may personally identify you...you don't know who is monitoring this site. If you take a look at the toolbar at the bottom of the page, you will often see there are a great deal of 'guests'
These could be anyone so take care.

Posting the solicitor and the county youre in is generally okay and you can ask to have your posts edited if you worry that you have put in too much detail.

You'd be amazed the extremes some people would go to for a bit of money. Often people aren't fully aware of the consequences of false allegations. After they make the allegation, it's dreadfully hard to retract...and even if they did, the police would probably still press ahead.

It's a nasty business and, as the member count on this website clearly shows, it is becoming scarily common.

Take Care.

[Psychojock]

Thank you for the advice. I'll have to be careful about what I post up.

Kind Regards.

[Casehardened]

For some reason, after this youngest one made the allegations, her two sisters were contacted and they both accused me!!

It is standard practice on the part of the police to cast the net to try to find anyone else to corroborate the original allegations though I'm sure they were actually hoping these girls would also accuse the 'new husband' rather than someone else.

Why the girls then accused you can only be speculated on; though from bitter experience the mindset of a teenaged girl can run very deep. I suspect that you being a 'stepfather' was a factor, girls can have a deep bond with their biological father and may unfairly resent his replacement.

I understand from Izzy's and Lawlessones's posts that in Scotland, charge goes with bail, and so isn't such a milestone in the progress of a case as it is in England where charge almost always leads to a trail. Do remember this when you are looking through the forum, so you don't get overly despondent about your circumstances.

[lawlessone2009]

Charge is almost a certainty.

What I would say however is that the fact you are on bail would indicate to me that the Police do not have a great deal of evidence.

With present day cases DNA evidence would be almost enough for the prosecution to move to deny bail, landing you on remand. There is of course the issue that once on remand the prosecution have to rush together a case as there are time limits for those on remand to stand trial. You can read it a million different ways but at the moment you are free so you are still in a positive position.

With historical cases I wouldn't image there are too many differences except that bail should be slightly easier to obtain as actual physical evidence will be somewhat lacking.

As for Moorov. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorov_v_HMA An interesting *******isation of 'corroboration'. Basically two people need to make a 'similar' accusation against you for them to corroborate each other. There are many many legal arguments that can still be attempted within what appears a limited space for movement. There have been advances on this judgement but nothing really to great, probably weak defence arguments that have given the original judgement a sense of strength and totality which it really doesn't deserve.

You can read the wiki article and hopefully see for yourself the glaring holes in it. Obviously 'wiki' articles are written by anyone and everyone so their interpretation does sneak in. It is handy that it is bullet pointed though!

You can read the original judgement and see where the legal interpretation has come from. It would've been quite a victory in court that day and would've been a very well educated legal team that accomplished it.

As for your Advocate. You can check em out here:

http://www.blackchambers.co.uk/index.php/advocates/

This is mine:

http://www.blackchambers.co.uk/index...derick-nelson/


Being a historical allegation it will most likely be down to the juries decision. Juries are not stupid! My friends friend (whom I also know) recently sat on a rape trial and although the accused turned up dressed in a manner that would no doubt have instantly alienated at least 1/3rd of the jury he was found not guilty. The friend was one of those 'alienated' but his reverse argument was that he simply couldn't send someone to jail for an offence that 'may' never have happened. His words.

I know the courts spout big words and complex legal jargon but at the end of the day the jury hold the power. A judge or prosecutor can say 'YOU MUST DO...' but a jury holds the power. If they doubt anything they will deliver what they feel they must.

A good legal team is a must and you seem to have this.
A good legal argument will be down to the info you give the legal team.
Turn up well dressed but NOT flashy.

I would ask your solicitor for advice on how to present yourself. It is absolutely crucial that you do not look cocky or guilty.


As for motive, MONEY is screaming at me. You're an easy target for them and they really do have nothing to loose seeing as they're loosing everything anyway. It would of course be interesting to see if the family resemble a family once their cheques all clear in their bank accounts...........................

You've been through a pretty horrific ordeal already, more than most what with the plane and all, and the coming court battle will no doubt be daunting but it is not going to be easy for the prosecution to prove anything against you. Stick to your guns and keep your chin up.

[lawlessone2009]

One other thing...

If the MOTHER is declaring bankruptcy then there is absolutely no point in her chasing money as it won't be hers.

Better her daughters do it.

Has the other man been to trial yet?

[Saffron]

Excellent advice given so far, and unfortunately I can't add anything to it.
Just wanted to say "welcome"

[Izzy]

Hi,

I'm comming in a bit late, you've had lot's of good advice but I'll just add my tuppence.
As already mentioned the Scottish system is a bit different, if you're arrested on a Friday or theres a holiday you are kept until the courts open again as you've unfortunately already discovered.

This is an interesting read - http://www.copfs.gov.uk/sites/defaul.../9/0000174.pdf

You'll find the Moorov Doctrine on page 64 and there is a lot of information on how and why they proceed with cases, it takes a while to plough through though.

It seems to be a bit harder to find a specialist lawyer in Scotland so as already mentioned I would have a search online and see what you can find out. It's good that you thought the Advocate knew her stuff.

From what you've said there does seem to be a financial motive.
Wonder if anyone high up is ever going to make the glaring obvious connection with paying people to make accusations and a rise in false ones!

[Psychojock]

Hi,
Thanks for all the good advice/information!! As for "has the other guy been to trial yet?" I'm not sure on that one and will get on to my sol after the easter break.

I hope you all have as good one as you can,dependiong on your circumstances.

Thanks again

Kind Regards

[yoda]

Hi thanks for your detailed reply.

You may or may not know that just by raising an allegation, a complainant can be entitled to thousands of pounds, even if the accused is not charged.

Is this true? how can this be right?