My son was falsely accused

[saddened]

My son regularly gave a girl a lift to six form and hung around with her as a "best friend". One day whilst my son was out with some other friends, the police turned up at our door asking where he was. As he is 18 I said, I do not keep tabs on him, but he would be out with his friends in his car in the local area. They asked for his mobile number, which I gave them to get in touch, but they would tell me nothing about why they wanted to speak to him.

They phoned him and he drove to meet them, so we found later and they arrested him for attempted rape, it turned out later of his so called best friend. He was completely shocked. The police wouldn't tell us where he was or any detail, so we did not know they had picked him up, where they had taken him, what it was about. On top of this, they showed up at the door with a search warrant for looking for some clothes. I still did not know why, but took him up to his bedroom as we have nothing to hide. They picked up some garments that resembled the description, but honestly as he wears similar clothes and colours all the time, I could have guessed the types and colours mentioned even as a stranger.

Story - My son had gone to show a hire car off to a friend that he had got that day as a woman had written his car off by running into his car whilst it was parked up. This female friend(accuser) went with him for the drive. He met his male friend, showed him the car, hurried him out as he had sports training and the girl and he stopped for 10 mins for a quick cigarette on the way back as they both smoke. They then headed back(50 mins to an hour at least back to home). My son picked up his sports kit from home between 7.15pm and 7.40pm latest and headed off to his sports club which is 5 mins away from home.

The alleged incident was supposed to have taken place between 7.30pm and 9pm. This was supposed to have happened in the area where my son met his friend, so an hour away from home and the sports club which is impossible.

The police returned his clothes as guess what - no evidence. They did not interview his witnesses as if they did they would have realised the timings were impossible.

As a mum I turned into a sleuth and went through her public facing twitter, FB and found that she had posted to my son on twitter that she would "like to F*ck" him(naming him). Also, I gathered witness statements that say that she was asking him to "christen the car" that day and he ignored her.

In the 3 months of bail the police did not interview one of his witnesses, though managed to descend on a fishing trip into any childhood club he had been in. Had they bothered, they would also have worked out that he was in the sports club by 8pm, witnessed by many.

To top this, the police knew that he had to be at work straight from the interview. He had just started a new job as due to this allegation he left sixform and got a job. The interview went on for some time and he was late for his shift. When questioned as to why he was late, he told the employer the truth, for which I am not going to criticise him as he should tell the truth. They had not option but to fire him due to the seriousness of the allegation and he was temping, so did not have a leg to stand on.

The Police also gathered statements from his friend(his friend allegedly said he felt pushed into this) from whom he went to show the car to saying he was rushing him out of the car ... The reason for this is that he wanted to get back for sports training...

We have put in a complaint through our MP to the assistant Chief Constable and his force passed the MP's letter of complaint on to another district force, goodness knows why as the area that the incident was alleged to have happened and we reside in the same county all be it some distance apart, so it was their district... The MP's office is less than impressed too..

As the DC concerned said to me - She is the victim and he is the suspect, to which I pointed out "Alleged victim" and asked what has happened to innocent until proven guilty. The DC told me it was their job to find evidence and put to CPS and our solicitors job to defend - where is the justice in this?? Not looking at both sides. Indeed on the latest interview my husband asked the DS why he had not interviewed my sons witnesses after 3 months, he said they had. My husband and son, then checked and guess what they had not, so they had lied. The DS when re-challenged then had to apologise. This apology is far from adequate or acceptable.

We now have to wait until late July to understand what is going on - another 10 weeks from last interview.

I am really at my wits end with this.

Personally, I believe Panorama should make a program on this subject as there have been some terrible miscarriages of justice such as "Warren Blackwell" jailed for over 3 years, also Pete Cashmore falsely accused and many more as this forum shows....

[is there justice?]

Saddened

I am so sorry to hear of your son's plight and you are right, the same old stories about police procedures keep coming out. On a minor point it is a huge waste of scarce resources but more importantly it is absolutely devastating for the falsely accused and their families. I suspect the legal profession don't mind too much as it keeps them in work.
As you have found out there is huge support on here and good advice.
I agree that a serious programme should be made but everyone is too scared to be seen as sympathising with the accused and it being interpreted as being hostile to the accuser. Some dreadful things do happen and no-one would have sympathy for the perpetrators of those crimes but lord, we need some common sense and some thorough investigating.
Keep your chin up

[saddened]

Saddened

I am so sorry to hear of your son's plight and you are right, the same old stories about police procedures keep coming out. On a minor point it is a huge waste of scarce resources but more importantly it is absolutely devastating for the falsely accused and their families. I suspect the legal profession don't mind too much as it keeps them in work.
As you have found out there is huge support on here and good advice.
I agree that a serious programme should be made but everyone is too scared to be seen as sympathising with the accused and it being interpreted as being hostile to the accuser. Some dreadful things do happen and no-one would have sympathy for the perpetrators of those crimes but lord, we need some common sense and some thorough investigating.
Keep your chin up

Thank you so much for your kind words. We are trying to keep our chin up at the moment. Since loosing his job my son is now labouring which is a far cry from his job in IT as he does not want to claim benefits and that is his only other option until this is over with. I admire him for hanging in there. He still does not know why she has accused him, but all we can think is that it is because he has turned her down. The weird thing about all of this is that the boyfriend she has now is very similar indeed in looks to my son, apart from he has dyed his hair blonde now, which my son is naturally, so really strange indeed that she has tried to make him a carbon copy.......

We have had in the past a ball thrown at the window and knocking on the door at all hours, which this female admitted it was her and a friend who threw the ball. I mentioned this to the police as I am wondering if she has been stalking him for a while?

Lets hope this comes to nothing or I will become a media star overnight as this is a joke.... A bad one ....

From my perspective Panorama should be presenting this as an insult to true rape victims and also the other victims - the falsely accused. There are too many examples now to let this go. I may put a letter together and send it in next week, to see whether they will consider this subject matter, with the examples such as Warren Blackwell etc..... All victims from either side deserve to have justice.....

[myhome]

Hi saddened and welcome to the forum - really sorry for the situation your son has found himself in but sadly it is not unusual. You will get lots of advice and support on here and you've been given some already.

I would suggest - if not already done - that your son writes down every single detail he can remember about that evening - names, places, times conversations etc even tiny details can be very important. These need to be stored somewhere the police can't get them - they may want to sieze has computer , phone etc. Any social media conversations need to have a screen shot to show they exist and have not been altered in any way (so copy and paste is no good) and if there are any text messages should be saved somewhere electronically so that if the police do take the phone they can't "accidentally" erase them of break the phone so they are irretrievable. Your son should not talk to the police (nor should any of his family or friends) without a solicitor present....

Keep strong and keep posting and we'll help all we can.....MH

[saddened]

Hi saddened and welcome to the forum - really sorry for the situation your son has found himself in but sadly it is not unusual. You will get lots of advice and support on here and you've been given some already.

I would suggest - if not already done - that your son writes down every single detail he can remember about that evening - names, places, times conversations etc even tiny details can be very important. These need to be stored somewhere the police can't get them - they may want to sieze has computer , phone etc. Any social media conversations need to have a screen shot to show they exist and have not been altered in any way (so copy and paste is no good) and if there are any text messages should be saved somewhere electronically so that if the police do take the phone they can't "accidentally" erase them of break the phone so they are irretrievable. Your son should not talk to the police (nor should any of his family or friends) without a solicitor present....

Keep strong and keep posting and we'll help all we can.....MH

Thank you so much for your support and guidance "Myhome" , it really helps to have found this forum as it has been frustrating, the injustice of it all.

I have screenshot:

1. The Twitter page where she states "I want to F you <My sons name>"
2. When you searched her Twitter name it came up with "Sexual Predator" in the title , so I screenshot this and had it witnessed by the solicitor and also a leading upstanding Business man, who will bear witness to this amongst others. This was the best idea as it suddenly disappeared, probably when the police picked it up, but I have it screenshot and witnessed.
3. I have gathered witness statements, including one which I haven't mentioned, that she called my son the day after the alleged incident to ask him for a lift to school and he said he wasn't coming to pick her up as he was taking his friend to the other campus site as he had missed the link bus. His friend who was in the car heard her ask my son as it was on hands free. Funnily enough the day that he turned her down for a lift we then have the police at the door that evening.

I really cannot believe this is carrying on as none of this adds up. That is why the MP got involved.

[whatsgoingon?]

Hi saddened, Welcome to the site (belatedly) - I'm so sorry you find yourself on here and am impressed by your fighting spirit. Your son's position makes one wonder what the hell is happening to society? Do we really want a situation where men daren't help women in any way , just in case this happens to them?
I also feel for your son losing his job, I'm sure in time he will find something which is more in line with his skills. This happened to my son, he lost his part-time job when he was FA'd and as he was also at Uni, the stress made him want to give his studies up completely. Luckily he didn't , but it did mean that he failed a year and has had to re-do. So another year's fees loan for him and an extra year's living expenses for us.
The whole process seems completely obscene and destructive. Sometimes his Dad and Iare so mad even though he was found NG, which actually was no real surprise as there was no evidence.

Well done for getting your MP involved. I'm looking into ways to speaking out without it being detrimental to him (eg becoming a victim of further problems with the police).

Keep surporting your son and fighting the case. I think you're doing brilliantly. The system is so incredibly inhumane, and it's such alot to bear for someone so young and seemingly so good natured.

All the best,
WGO

[saddened]

Hi saddened, Welcome to the site (belatedly) - I'm so sorry you find yourself on here and am impressed by your fighting spirit. Your son's position makes one wonder what the hell is happening to society? Do we really want a situation where men daren't help women in any way , just in case this happens to them?
I also feel for your son losing his job, I'm sure in time he will find something which is more in line with his skills. This happened to my son, he lost his part-time job when he was FA'd and as he was also at Uni, the stress made him want to give his studies up completely. Luckily he didn't , but it did mean that he failed a year and has had to re-do. So another year's fees loan for him and an extra year's living expenses for us.
The whole process seems completely obscene and destructive. Sometimes his Dad and Iare so mad even though he was found NG, which actually was no real surprise as there was no evidence.

Well done for getting your MP involved. I'm looking into ways to speaking out without it being detrimental to him (eg becoming a victim of further problems with the police).

Keep surporting your son and fighting the case. I think you're doing brilliantly. The system is so incredibly inhumane, and it's such alot to bear for someone so young and seemingly so good natured.

All the best,
WGO

WGO, thank you so much for your wonderful message, I am truly sad to hear of your son's plight as he sounds like a lovely hard-working young man to be proud of. I like you go through real anger about the situation, which is so bias towards the accuser and is a complete injustice. I have to say, I have had "set to's" with the DS over this whole thing and have told him this is nothing more than a witch-hunt and I am disgusted with the completely bias approach. Justly as they had been all over his background for 3 months and yet could not interview one of his witnesses. The MP has written to their assistant Chief Constable about this and more.

The police are not above the law and some may say it may not help the case, but I have defended with fact and evidence, which is more than they are doing. I will not stop until justice is done and am prepared to fight all the way as I know my son is innocent.

Love to you & thank you again xxxx

[myhome]

The police are not above the law and some may say it may not help the case, but I have defended with fact and evidence, which is more than they are doing. I will not stop until justice is done and am prepared to fight all the way as I know my son is innocent.

Well done you
Unfortunately the police have targets to meet and this includes convictions apparently so they will most likely be interested only in finding "evidence" to convict, rather than finding out who is the innocent one. If they send the case to the CPS, the CPS has to be 51% certain of a conviction in order to bring the case to trial....... Keep fighting.....

[edinguy]

Keep fighting and supporting your son, having my parents believing and fighting for me kept me alive tbh. It's such a lonely and frightening saga this whole thing but loved ones make it that bit easier.

I hope to god your fight does not take half as long as mine did but I pray you get the same outcome.

Stay strong.

[saddened]

Dear MyHome and Edinguy, thank you so much. I will keep fighting as it is ludicrous this has ever come this far. The accuser told police that my son had locked her in the car once and they managed to investigate that(in the initial 3 months, whilst they spoke to none of my sons witnesses). The truth was that the car he had was push power start(not key), with a phob. My son opened his car, then left the accuser in his car while he popped back into school to get changed for after school football(her choice and he could hardly take her into the changing rooms with him).

If you take the phob more than 1.5metres away from the car it automatically locks and for security you cannot open it until the phob is 1.5 metres or less or releases it. As this was a new car, he did not know this. When she realised, she phoned a friend who was in the school to tell them as she was allegedly embarrased. The friend was then asked to give a witness statement to the police as though he had done something untoward. The witness is a friend of my sons and she even said they laughed about it - saw it on his FB page. My son of course got changed, then got back to the car, realised what had happened and they laughed about it.

I pointed out to the DS that this was laughable and if they stopped wasting tax payers money on ridiculous witch hunts, stuck to facts and actually referred to the technical manual for the car it states that it locks itself when the phob is out of range(1,5 metres or more). Even the witness said it was not malicious.

Are the police for real? I ask you?? My mother once locked my disabled step-dad in her car under the same circumstances - are they going to lock her up too?? Also the MP's PA has been locked in by her husband and she joked she has learnt to sit still so the alarm does not go off....

It would be laughable if it was not so serious.....

[is there justice?]

They only look for supporting evidence not contrary evidence - that unfortunately is down to you and your son. As a general rule it is better not to point out their mistakes for them, save them for your solicitor as plod then try to change the 'facts'.

On the news this morning they were talking about pilot schemes where victims can pre-record their evidence to avoid the horrors of the Court. I think in a few years there will be the biggest backlash from all this with an enormous deluge of 'unsafe convictions'.

I have every sympathy for true victims but these FAs will eventually destroy all credibility for genuine victims and we will go back 50 years.

[Casehardened]

On the news this morning they were talking about pilot schemes where victims can pre-record their evidence to avoid the horrors of the Court. I think in a few years there will be the biggest backlash from all this with an enormous deluge of 'unsafe convictions'.

I watched this with some shock; the defence barrister they wheeled in to provide balance wasn't much help as she said she didn't relish cross-examining the witness but fortunately made the point that the actual process of giving and countering evidence has to be a 'live' process.

If cross examination can't be carried out why bother with trials at all, just arrest & take in front of a judge for sentencing, will save a lot of money that way

Note to Chris Grayling: this wasn't a serious suggestion!

[saddened]

Absolutely agree with the comments made - I watched with horror too.

I could drive a chieftain tank through this case, so the barrister would have no problems. The accuser even posted that she loves it that the Takeaway delivery boy fancies her too... this girl is deluded to say the least, lets hope he is not the next on her list.

My son has always made it clear that he is not attracted to her, to me and others as we have all asked as he gave her lifts to six form as she lives around the corner from us. She persistently threw herself at him, so I guess a warning of beware should go out and a woman scorned and all that.....

The accuser also quoted on part of her twitter strap line "lying is easy" ..... which I pointed out to the police...

Back to basics - He wasn't even in the near vicinity when this happened and that included a two hour window that she gave. He was 50 mins to an hour away with friends at his sports club and that is just a fraction of his defence.

It angers me that the police take this stance, but also for the true victims who deserve justice, are not after the money or some sort of sick revenge because a person does not find them attractive, guilt etc It also angers me that our police force are supposed to represent the law and justice and should look at both sides instead of looking to meet targets or personal gain through commendations. I mention this as poor Warren Blackwell was jailed for over 3 years of his life and the investigating officer allegedly received a commendation - For ruining someone's life?!? When it was quashed - I bet they were not taken to task about this ... Someone should start taking the police to task for unfair practice. We have the scales of justice for a reason ... the police should not be exempt in their investigation.

Rant over...... Sorry, but really annoys me :-)

[myhome]

HI - as ITJ has advised - anything you find or have which will dig big holes in the FA's case, keep to yourself to be used later as part of your son's defence should it become necessary. If you now tell plod that your son has a caste iron alibi for the times she has alleged, they will go back and question her again with this and she will say, "Oh - sorry; I was so traumatised by what he'd done to me I mistook the time and it was actually [a time when your son has no alibi]!" Apparently FA's are allowed to do this and it is quite acceptable to plod.

One member on here questioned the allegation made as he didn't even meet the girl til 2 years - yes 2 years - after the time of the allegation. Plod went back to her with that and even though originally she had been convinced of the year cos it was supposed to have happened on New Year's Eve, she told them she'd made a mistake and altered the year to after they had met......even more

Keep fighting - you've a great spirit......

[is there justice?]

Absolutely agree with the comments made - I watched with horror too.


My son has always made it clear that he is not attracted to her, to me and others as we have all asked as he gave her lifts to six form as she lives around the corner from us. She persistently threw herself at him, so I guess a warning of beware should go out and a woman scorned and all that.....

The accuser also quoted on part of her twitter strap line "lying is easy" ..... which I pointed out to the police...


Rant over...... Sorry, but really annoys me :-)

I hope these perils are covered in sex education for boys