Help

[teacher81]

Hi

As the post title says I have recently been falsely accused of rape and would like some help/advice if possible

I am a male teacher and was arrested early October for allegedly raping a girl I had been on one date with

I met this girl on a dating website and after several messages we arranged to meet up for a drink and meal in a local pub at 8pm that night. Shortly before we suppose to meet I messaged her to say I was not hungry and was just a drink ok. She seemed quite annoyed by this but said ok. We met in the pub and she had got there before me and bought herself a small glass of wine. I had a squash. We chatted for about half hour and she seemed quite nice. Maybe a bit down in the dumps because she said she had recently moved back home after a failed relationship and that she was now living in a cottage on her own and that she didn't speak to her parents and did not enjoy her current job. I then said that I needed at some point to get some food shopping and she said she needed to get some stuff also. I drove us to a nearby supermarket and we went our separate ways to get our stuff and met back up in the middle of the store.

I then asked her what she wanted to do after (did she want to go home or come back to mine). She said why don't we go back to yours with a bottle of wine so I agreed. As I don't really drink wine I said she could pick the bottle which she did and put in my basket. I paid for my stuff and the wine then we got back in my car and I dropped her back at the pub to get her car. She then followed me back to mine and when we got here we went into the kitchen and I put my food shopping away.

I then said to her (approx. 9pm) my house mate was coming back at 9.30 so did she want to stay downstairs or come up to my room. She said why don't we take the bottle of wine and go up to your room. When we were in my room we lay on the bed and talked for about 10-15mins before she instigated a kiss which I responded to. This then led to sex and I would say the time frame for this would be about 9.35. My house mate came back at 9.30 and I had actually got up off the bed to check through the window it was him so he was in the house when we had sex (and she knew this).

After sex we talked for about 5mins and I then said to her she would have to make a move at about 10pm as I had work and was quite tired. She seemed a bit upset at this and I think she thought she was going to stay the night or atleast a bit longer. I said I was free on the Wednesday If she wanted to meet up again then and she said yes. I then walked her downstairs and asked her to message me when she got home to let me know she got home ok. After 20mins or so I had not received a message so sent her 1 asking if she had got home ok but I did not get a reply. I then rang her twice but there was no answer so I went to bed.

At about 1am I woke up to the police at my door who then proceeded to arrest me on suspicion of rape!

I was in the cells for about 17hours before being interviewed with the duty solicitor present (who I had spoken to before the interview)

From what they are saying she said apparently when we were on my bed I had tried "feeling her up" as they put it and that she had told me no on several occasions an I had laughed it off and then raped her. She also said she had bitten my finger but there was no bite mark. I made a point of this in the interview and explained the only reason my finger had bleed slightly was because she had been sucking my 2 fingers very hard and I had a small chipping of skin that had come off (as you get at the bottom of your fingers nails sometimes). There was definitely no a bite.

I was then bailed to return to the police station in late Jan pending further enquires but due to the nature of the allegation and the job I do I have been suspended on full pay.

I have now paid privately for a solicitor (John Wilkins, Cardiff) who specializes in this area and got his details through falselyaccused.com

Has anyone had any dealings with John and falselyaccused.com? If so your thoughts?

I have found them both very useful

Following a meeting with John he advised me to get my fingers and hands checked out with my GP and for them to record any injuries (if any). I did this and the doctor confirmed there was no sign of any bite mark. The police in interview failed to do this which I feel is important to help prove my innocence.

I am really worried about even getting charged as this in itself will ruin my life.

John seems to think I might just about pass the threshold test the CPS use when deciding on whether to charge but feels the medical report might sway things in my favour.

Pros of my case are:

1. I met her off a dating website and she ended up back in my bedroom on my bed with a bottle of wine within the space of an hour and was kissing me passionately (which she agrees happened)

2. My housemate was in when we had sex and heard no sign of any rape

3. She had no injuries or ripped clothing

4. She said she had bitten my finger and there was no bite mark there

5. I had sent her a message asking her if she had got home ok which can be checked as the police have my phone

Negative points of my case:

1. She went straight to her friends house from mine and made the disclosure

I would just like some feedback on whether from what I have said you think I will get charged and if so what you think the chance of me being convicted are

I have a mate who works in CID in a different force and he says its 50/50 if I get charged but that if I do he is 99% sure a jury would not convict me but obviously I am very worried about it all

Any thoughts/help/advice regarding my situation would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

[frightened spouse]

Hi

As the post title says I have recently been falsely accused of rape and would like some help/advice if possible

I am a male teacher and was arrested early October for allegedly raping a girl I had been on one date with

I met this girl on a dating website and after several messages we arranged to meet up for a drink and meal in a local pub at 8pm that night. Shortly before we suppose to meet I messaged her to say I was not hungry and was just a drink ok. She seemed quite annoyed by this but said ok. We met in the pub and she had got there before me and bought herself a small glass of wine. I had a squash. We chatted for about half hour and she seemed quite nice. Maybe a bit down in the dumps because she said she had recently moved back home after a failed relationship and that she was now living in a cottage on her own and that she didn't speak to her parents and did not enjoy her current job. I then said that I needed at some point to get some food shopping and she said she needed to get some stuff also. I drove us to a nearby supermarket and we went our separate ways to get our stuff and met back up in the middle of the store.

I then asked her what she wanted to do after (did she want to go home or come back to mine). She said why don't we go back to yours with a bottle of wine so I agreed. As I don't really drink wine I said she could pick the bottle which she did and put in my basket. I paid for my stuff and the wine then we got back in my car and I dropped her back at the pub to get her car. She then followed me back to mine and when we got here we went into the kitchen and I put my food shopping away.

I then said to her (approx. 9pm) my house mate was coming back at 9.30 so did she want to stay downstairs or come up to my room. She said why don't we take the bottle of wine and go up to your room. When we were in my room we lay on the bed and talked for about 10-15mins before she instigated a kiss which I responded to. This then led to sex and I would say the time frame for this would be about 9.35. My house mate came back at 9.30 and I had actually got up off the bed to check through the window it was him so he was in the house when we had sex (and she knew this).

After sex we talked for about 5mins and I then said to her she would have to make a move at about 10pm as I had work and was quite tired. She seemed a bit upset at this and I think she thought she was going to stay the night or atleast a bit longer. I said I was free on the Wednesday If she wanted to meet up again then and she said yes. I then walked her downstairs and asked her to message me when she got home to let me know she got home ok. After 20mins or so I had not received a message so sent her 1 asking if she had got home ok but I did not get a reply. I then rang her twice but there was no answer so I went to bed.

At about 1am I woke up to the police at my door who then proceeded to arrest me on suspicion of rape!

I was in the cells for about 17hours before being interviewed with the duty solicitor present (who I had spoken to before the interview)

From what they are saying she said apparently when we were on my bed I had tried "feeling her up" as they put it and that she had told me no on several occasions an I had laughed it off and then raped her. She also said she had bitten my finger but there was no bite mark. I made a point of this in the interview and explained the only reason my finger had bleed slightly was because she had been sucking my 2 fingers very hard and I had a small chipping of skin that had come off (as you get at the bottom of your fingers nails sometimes). There was definitely no a bite.

I was then bailed to return to the police station in late Jan pending further enquires but due to the nature of the allegation and the job I do I have been suspended on full pay.

I have now paid privately for a solicitor (John Wilkins, Cardiff) who specializes in this area and got his details through falselyaccused.com

Has anyone had any dealings with John and falselyaccused.com? If so your thoughts?

I have found them both very useful

Following a meeting with John he advised me to get my fingers and hands checked out with my GP and for them to record any injuries (if any). I did this and the doctor confirmed there was no sign of any bite mark. The police in interview failed to do this which I feel is important to help prove my innocence.

I am really worried about even getting charged as this in itself will ruin my life.

John seems to think I might just about pass the threshold test the CPS use when deciding on whether to charge but feels the medical report might sway things in my favour.

Pros of my case are:

1. I met her off a dating website and she ended up back in my bedroom on my bed with a bottle of wine within the space of an hour and was kissing me passionately (which she agrees happened)

2. My housemate was in when we had sex and heard no sign of any rape

3. She had no injuries or ripped clothing

4. She said she had bitten my finger and there was no bite mark there

5. I had sent her a message asking her if she had got home ok which can be checked as the police have my phone

Negative points of my case:

1. She went straight to her friends house from mine and made the disclosure

I would just like some feedback on whether from what I have said you think I will get charged and if so what you think the chance of me being convicted are

I have a mate who works in CID in a different force and he says its 50/50 if I get charged but that if I do he is 99% sure a jury would not convict me but obviously I am very worried about it all

Any thoughts/help/advice regarding my situation would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Sorry to hear of the situation you are in, it is a horrendous experience that many have been in . It is virtually impossible for anyone to give an indication of whether or not you will be charged unfortunately, there are so many factors at play and each case is very different.

In terms of positives you cite re: no sound of rape/ no ripped clothes the CPS have done lots of work on dismissing what they would call rape myths, so I would imagine any decent defence lawyer would tell you this was not a particularly positive point. I don't want to depress you but this is the way such cases are now viewed, they could state the victim was compliant as she was afraid , or froze so did not put a physical fight. Which is obviously very unhelpful when you are completely innocent and it was a consensual encounter.

I think it is a very good thing that you have had the doctor examine and record the minimal marks on your fingers, if there had been any real bite marks no doubt the police would have been very keen to record this. Have they interviewed your housemate, did he see the girl when she left ?

I don't believe the solicitor you have used has been mentioned on this site, we do have a list of recommended sols that forum members have first hand experience of. Falseyaccused.com has been discussed at some length. I will put the links on a follow up post.

It sounds as if the girl was feeling rejected after your brief encounter and struck back with a false rape claim, he'll hath no fury like a woman scorned.

[frightened spouse]

http://www.daftmoo.org.uk/mooforum/s...ist-solicitors

http://www.daftmoo.org.uk/mooforum/s...hlight=Sexpert

[myhome]

Hi and welcome to the forum though sorry you have had to find us.
You've asked quite a few questions so I'll try to answer as many as I can; though in any case someone else will be along shortly to help out.

The biggest question that everyone asks is regarding "chances of being charged." Unfortunately it is not possible to give a definitive answer to this question as every case is different even though there are similarities between many and yours. It depends on the region you are in and whether, after concluding their "investigation" the CPS are 51% certain of achieving a conviction. If they are, they will charge; if not they won't.

You could be on bail and rebailed for quite a long time. Although the police are supposed to conclude their investigation in a reasonable time, they rarely do and what they think is reasonable differs considerably from what we think is reasonable. Big thing to remember - they are NOT your friends and have no interest in proving your innocence. They have conviction targets to meet and start from the premise that the accuser is telling the truth and will refer to her (or him in some cases) as "the victim." So, don't tell them anything they haven't asked you a question about, especially if would help to prove your innocence.. They will either "lose" this info, deny they ever had it, or tell the accuser so she can change her story to render your info useless. Save it and only tell your solicitor.

Do some research on her - look on FB or other social media and see what she is saying. screen shot this. Electronically store anything including your text messages somewhere where the police can't get them if they should seize your electronic equipment. I know they're on your phone, but it's amazing how many people on here have had messages deleted or "not found" when the phone has been forensically examined.

falselyaccused.com leads to an American site. Did you mean falselyaccused.co.uk ? If so I would urge extreme caution with your dealings with this organisation. There are several people on here who have had bad and costly experiences with them - I'll put up links at the end. With regard to the solicitor, what have you paid him for already? Was he the one who accompanied you at your interview? If not, it is very unusual for solicitors to ask for money up front before they have done anything. http://www.daftmoo.org.uk/mooforum/s...ist-solicitors

as you are a teacher, you could speak to this organisation as well who may be able to help. I found them very helpful but I had been FA'ed by an ex pupil.

http://www.factuk.org/


Below are just 2 of many threads of negative comments from several members about Stephen Cooper at falselyaccused.co.uk

http://www.daftmoo.org.uk/mooforum/s...stephen+cooper

http://www.daftmoo.org.uk/mooforum/s...stephen+cooper "sexpert" was his user name when he was on here.

Keep strong and we'll help al we can

[myhome]

Hi FS - great answer - I was writing mine whilst you were writing yours - seems we have similar opinions....

[Rights Fighter]

falselyaccused.com is one of many domain names the owner of the other site has bought, including one in my own personal name and in my username!

[frightened spouse]

falselyaccused.com is one of many domain names the owner of the other site has bought, including one in my own personal name and in my username!

Very odd behaviour ! I notice the new website is much slicker and the many spelling errors in the testimonials have been corrected !

[teacher81]

Hi

Thankyou for your responses

I have paid out £850 plus VAT and that will cover me up until I am charged or not. I have a friend who is a barrister who confirms that he knows my solicitor and he is app good. Yes I did mean fausleyaccused.co.uk sorry.

It's just the waiting now that is getting to me. They have taken my phone and I'm worried they might find text messages that have been deleted from girls I have been on dates with before who I have not bothered with who might say things which are not true to get back at me etc. I know this is prob just me being silly but I'm just thinking the worse.

If I do get charged I'm also thinking what reasonably thinking jury could be beyond reasonable doubt that either of us were telling the truth when it basically comes down to my word against hers. If anything the fact I had a house mate in the room next door, the fact she alleges she had bitten me and I can medically prove that did not happen and the fact she can't on 1 hand say she froze and was to scared to do anything because on the other hand she is saying she has bitten me. I know if I was being raped and I said I had bitten the person I would have left a big bite mark or taken the finger off. Also if she is saying she was biting me surly she would also kick, scream, punch and do anything to get me off in which case my house mate would of heard. My point is she can't say 1 then the other. So that part of me thinks how could I get convicted based her word against mine and with the flaws I have already highlighted

[teacher81]

Regarding my housemate no he did not see her but said he heard us leave at the times I said

He said the police had rung him to say they were going to interview him on the Friday of that week (I was arrested early hours on the tues) but he still as not heard off them nearly 3 weeks later

Is this a good or bad thing for me?

[bootandsuit]

Just a quick note ......once again if anything aids your case the police rarely follow up remember they only want a conviction !

My neighbour said all she heard was me being nice to my FA and guess what the police lost interest

Sad fact buy you can't trust them

My life's been turned upside down and like me I'm sorry you find yourself on-board

Take care bro

[Rights Fighter]

Very odd behaviour ! I notice the new website is much slicker and the many spelling errors in the testimonials have been corrected !

Do I understand that to mean that 'testimonials' have been edited??

[frightened spouse]

Do I understand that to mean that 'testimonials' have been edited??

I read through the older version company website very thoroughly and noticed the testimonials that purported to be from highly educated people were littered with spelling and grammatical errors. I just thought this kind of sloppiness was not a good indicator of attention to detail and it put me off straight away. At around this point I found this forum and read of other people's experiences.

At the beginning of my husband's fa he had an interview with the aforementioned company, and if I remember correctly a sum of between £4000 - 5000 for any pre charge work was mentioned. This seemed to have been calculated according to what kind of car my husband was driving, as I know another forum member was also asked what his car was, and his quote was substantially less.

[Rights Fighter]

How can he edit testimonials that are written by other people? Did he go to them and say "excuse me but would you mind correcting your spellings and grammar?"

The asking of what sort of car a potential client drives is a new one on me. At least you ended up with the 'right' solicitor and it got kicked out before the trial. Hope your lives are now taking a turn for the better and there's been no comeback.

[myhome]

I have paid out £850 plus VAT and that will cover me up until I am charged or not.

It is unusual nonetheless because there isn't a lot a solicitor can do until/if you are charged

It's just the waiting now that is getting to me. They have taken my phone and I'm worried they might find text messages that have been deleted from girls I have been on dates with before who I have not bothered with who might say things which are not true to get back at me etc. I know this is prob just me being silly but I'm just thinking the worse.

The waiting can be unbearable especially as you have been suspended. I was suspended for 6 weeks and have no memory of that time at all. One way of getting through this is to build yourself a routine and lots of physical and mental activity into each day so you have not very much time to think.
It is not impossible that the other girls could join in - but mostly because plod will encourage them too; or if they hear the word, "compensation." However, that said, you would only be trying to second guess something that may never happen so best to try to ignore that for now.

If I do get charged I'm also thinking what reasonably thinking jury could be beyond reasonable doubt that either of us were telling the truth when it basically comes down to my word against hers.

If there is no forensic or corroborating evidence, these cases do come down to word vs word. Juries are made up of reasonable people who can listen to evidence and can make their own minds up. I went to billykickass's trial in Feb last year when it was word vs word. He got 2 Not Guilty verdicts. Here's the page of his thread where he describes his trial and the afterwards...... http://www.daftmoo.org.uk/mooforum/s...t=billykickass

If anything the fact I had a house mate in the room next door, the fact she alleges she had bitten me and I can medically prove that did not happen and the fact she can't on 1 hand say she froze and was to scared to do anything because on the other hand she is saying she has bitten me. I know if I was being raped and I said I had bitten the person I would have left a big bite mark or taken the finger off. Also if she is saying she was biting me surly she would also kick, scream, punch and do anything to get me off in which case my house mate would of heard. My point is she can't say 1 then the other. So that part of me thinks how could I get convicted based her word against mine and with the flaws I have already highlighted

Unfortunately plod will give her lots of opportunities to change her story - eg "I'm sure it must have been very traumatic for you which is why you can't remember properly. You say you bit him - are you sure you didn't struggle and hit him as well?"
and she replies, "Oh I did - I was so upset I forgot that...." etc etc.... (However, if at any time you change your story, they will tell you you are lying).
As bootandsuit said, you can't trust them and they are not interested in anything you or your house mate has to say which will help you.

I'm really sorry that I know this isn't what you want to hear. It's not what any of us wanted to hear....but it is the experience of many of us.
Keep strong and keep busy

[Rights Fighter]

Teacher81 - is there any update to your case?