Falsely accused of rape

[nothavingagoodday]

Hi

Until a few weeks ago I lived in Orkney, Scotland for about a year. I am originally from the Northwest of England and thankfully back there now. While I was there I had a tough time in my relationship and had a brief affair, I ended this as soon as I could because she was starting to stalk my every move. At work a friend of hers started working with us and needed somewhere to crash at weekends because of her shift patterns. by this point I was single and I offered her my sofa. This annoyed the women I had the affair with as they were both friends. But never the less for all but one night, the women now staying with me was a friend only. We had a one night stand which she made a point of teasing about for a week leading up to it, sending me facebook messages and naked pics of herself etc. Anyway, I got back with my original partner after we sorted out our differences, I told her about both of these women so as not to lie to her about it. She has known me for a very long time and has made similar mistakes in her life so we agreed to put it behind us. Because of this though it was not possible for me to keep accommodating this women who I had the one night stand with even if we were just friends, it would only make things strange between everyone so I asked her to find somewhere else to stay, she said this was fine and moved out without any problems and even spoke to me in work as if everything was ok as usual to start with. After about a week I was summoned in work and asked to leave under suspension for sexual harassment without being told who or what had been said. So I was left in the dark as to what was going on. Nearly two weeks later I was arrested at my home for raping both women! I couldn't believe it, I was in to much sock to say anything. I was held for over 24 hours, interviewed, DNA etc etc. I was told that I would be taken to the court house and charged, remanded in custody and then advised by my solicitor as what would happen next but I was looking at 19 years inside!. But at the last minute, the court told them to let me go without appearing. As far as I am aware it was due to lack of evidence but I still do not know what the actual complaint is, Rape is one thing but if you don't know the hows and wheres etc how do you defend yourself? I cant even say where I was at the time if they cant even tell me that much about the case! anyway long story slightly shorter, I was released without charge and without bail conditions. I told the police I was returning to England and voluntary gave them my sim card, my facebook log in details and new phone number, non of which they asked me for but to clear my name I did this anyway. Since then my old phone has been released to me but the police has said that they are reviewing statements and not closed the case. Well the thing is, I deleted my faceobook before this all kicked off, I was getting fed up with sexual harassment at work and bullying for being English (Orkney is a strange place at times) and knowing that facebook never deletes everything I went through my pics, my messages and just got rid, left it blank and closed it. Now if those messages are retrievable then both women are in a whole load of trouble as this would back to me up no end. But I have no idea if this can be done or not. Now I find myself in limbo no knowing if there's ever going to be a knock on the door or not! Police wont close it as either I am guilty or the two women are charged for wasting police time! so in the meantime I am stuck at home twiggling my fingers wondering if I have a future or not. I have to say that despite my indiscretion my partner has stood by me and she didn't have to, the one night stand was while we were split up but the affair wasn't, so I couldn't have come through this without her by my side and I owe to her to get this cleared up as I don't want to put her through anything more ever again, she deserves better. She has done similar in the past herself but non the less its not nice to cheat on anybody and now we are stronger than ever before, its actually brought us closer together with everything out in the open. If anyone knows the Scottish legal system and how this is likely to work or weather or not deleted facebook messages can be retrieved or not, advice would be more than welcome

Thanks

D

[thisisinsane]

Hi nothavingagood day, i think there are a couple of people here who are from Scotland or have been charged or questioned in Scotland so i guess somebody will be here to answer your questions soon.

Unfortunately it doesnt end in either a charge against you or them for wasting police time. In many cases where the accusers get caught lying nothing happens which is a shame.

You said you were released without bail or being charged which does not seem like a bad sign. I suggest you read a little on the forum about other Scottish threads and maybe you will find some useful information but somebody more experienced will soon be here to answer your questions. May i ask how long you have been waiting since the questioning?

Keep your head up. Its the most difficult time in your life but you have to stay strong

[nothavingagoodday]

Thanks thisisinsane

Its been about 4 weeks since I was questioned

[thisisinsane]

If you go to the forum of falsely accused of rape there is a post titled "new to this..." also by a Scottish member. Maybe if you ask them you can inbox them as soon as you become a full member.

[Kjg]

Thanks thisisinsane

Its been about 4 weeks since I was questioned

I am having the same happen to me still in the dark what's going to happen now

[thisisinsane]

I dont know if it will be helpful to you but when i tried to learn about the rights if a suspect in england i googled it and there was a pdf document titled "pre trial detention in European union" which explained the remand on bail and custody thing for England. They also had a chapter about Scotland i think so if you google that maybe it will help answer some questions and give you a profound understanding of your rights.

[nothavingagoodday]

Many thanks I will have a look

[thisisinsane]

specialist solicitors

http://www.daftmoo.org.uk/mooforum/s...or-in-Scotland
This is a forum about specialist solicitors in Scotland
No matter what happens, being prepared for the worst never hurt nobody

[thisisinsane]

what happens now

http://www.daftmoo.org.uk/mooforum/s...at-happens-now
This is another useful piece of advice from casehardened about procedures of such cases, but might differ slightly in Scotland? !

[nothavingagoodday]

Many thanks for your help it is much appreciated

[frightened spouse]

Hi

It is worth having a look at posts by lawlessone and also can't give up for details of the scottish system, I'm sure there are others but my memory is not that good.

Regarding the deleted facebook posts they maybe stored on the memory board of a pc or phone that you viewed them on so if the need arises a forensic recovery expert maybe able to resurect them for you.

It is extremely tough waiting for developments, and nothing happens very quickly so try and look after yourself and be around friends and family to try and take your mind off things as much as possible

Best wishes

FS

[nothavingagoodday]

Hi

Thanks for your reply

I have just been emailing facebook for some help on the messages, not sure if they can help or not but worth a try. I am going to call the police up there on Tuesday and ask them if they have retrieved their mobile phones with the data on them, I use a PC or laptop but their phones will store everything on the servers with both facebook and their mobile network no matter how its deleted apparently so I hoping they will go out of their way to check these things. According to a few forums I have read its easier to check theirs than my PC.

I have decided to do all the leg work myself and research as much as possible to get this sorted instead of relying on solicitors who may miss something. May seem daft but I have more to loose than a solicitor so I'll use mine for advise but I am going to do the digging myself.

Fingers crossed

D

[Heretowin]

Sorry you have had to join the forum.

When my son was arrested, questioned, DNA'd etc. and held overnight the judge released him the next day without charge or bail. I'm sorry to tell you that 3 years later he was in court defending the rape allegation. We assumed that the lack of charge or bail was a positive sign. This was a case when his accuser called the police on the night she alleged the rape took place so there wasn't a "cold trail" to investigate.

His phone text records were crucial to convincing the jury he was innocent and these records were recovered before the trial i.e. nearly three years after the alleged event. His solicitor used a telecom forensic expert to recover the texts. His was an iPhone so I'm not sure if the backup to his PC and iCloud made this easier but I know the forensic expert had to acquire new software to extract the data. But he managed it despite them being over 3 years old.

Hope this helps.

HTW

[nothavingagoodday]

Hi

That's positive that these things can be traced and I am sorry to hear you went through this, its good to see there are places like this where we can share information and support each other. Its a difficult one for police to call I have to admit, in my case however the two women didn't contact the police till well after they claimed it had happened, in fact one of them was over a month old so it is being treated as historic thankfully but never the less reading what you say is similar to what I have read elsewhere about years down the line coming back at you. I am in the process of finding ways of making facebook dig for the messages from their servers, a timely exercise I am told but if need be I am going to apply for a court order to make it happen. My main problem is my own fault really, without knowing that this would happen I deleted the stuff myself because of I was getting rid of facebook. turns out I cant retrieve messages from people I am no longer friends with so without adding them again I cannot get those messages back, however in the past two hours I have retrieved the messages from my partner etc who was not blocked off my facebook so they are there somewhere. Just have to get Facebook to do the same to their accounts.

Either way I am staying positive as I have to, double rape is serious and carries a long sentence so I either give up and wait for a knock on the door or crack on and do the leg work myself. I am going to keep trying to clear my name and make them pay for what they have done, after all they should face the consequences of their actions. I wont leave it up to the police to clear me in any way, I don't trust anyone enough to do that. I think after this weather or not I succeed or fail I am going to make sure they are named and shamed. Even if I have pay for that to be done on billboards I will, after all they did the same to me through the police! they accused me publicly and may have lost me my job yet too, so I wont just lay down and take it.

D

[lawlessone2009]

It appears that the Moorov doctrine ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorov_v_HM_Advocate ) is coming into play in your case.

Well, what 'could' be your case.

It appears that the Police have been quick to rush to the court house! The COPFS (Crown Office and Procurator Fiscals Service) have most likely not been ready or willing to proceed with having you put on petition and it appears that the Police haven't even laid charges yet!!!

There could be a strong possibility that there isn't going to be a case. It may even be that someone somewhere has noticed a great problem either with the complainants or procedures.

It's a funny old world. There seems to be an apprehension when it comes to charging people these days in Scotland. They jumped in as quick as they could with me and it appears most around my time were the same. Over the last couple of years things have slowed down greatly, thankfully!

Maybe all the failed celebrity bashing is causing changes to be made.

It is good news that you have not been charged, are not on bail and have not appeared on petition. The processes against you are not in full motion. Everything is still held at the starting line.

You are going to need a clever solicitor/advocate to ensure you do not get screwed over here!

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/46/contents

Specifically:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/46/section/65

(1)Subject to subsections (2) and (3) below, an accused shall not be tried on indictment for any offence unless

[F1(a)where an indictment has been served on the accused in respect of the High Court, a preliminary hearing is commenced within the period of 11 months; and

(b)in any case, the trial is commenced within the period of 12 months,

of the first appearance of the accused on petition in respect of the offence.F1]

It appears that the COPFS are attempting to circumvent this piece of legislation. With you not being charged the clock, according to them, has not started ticking yet. This means that they can take forever and a day to 'investigate' the claims made against you and 'if' in two years time it suits them to 'charge' then they'll start the ball rolling. However, if you find yourself a clever legal team you should be able to argue that the 'clock' started ticking at the time you were held at the Police station and 'almost' presented in court. This would all take place via an 'appeal' BEFORE any trial! Your legal team would argue that Section 65 started counting on 'x' date. This is ONLY useful IF the prosecution do not proceed within the year OR a trial does not begin within the year.

It's a little card you keep to yourself. Don't go shouting at the prosecution/Police that you are in any way aware of a possible 'indictment killer' if they don't act in a timely manner.

As for your present situation. I understand Facebook could be useful but don't go pushing things too greatly. IF there was to be a case raised against you then there is nothing stopping you having your legal team get the information from Facebook. Facebook will not be 'deleting' it any time soon......

Further. I would encourage you not to attempt to contact either complainant. Don't visit Orkney! Bloody weird place to begin with but it'll also be dangerous for you now. Little island communities are full of nut case 'protectors' that only need an excuse to become 'heroes' by brutally attacking people who are seen as wrong doers.

Take your partner out for a meal.