7 months of hell so far !

[angstman]

Would just like to add, that earlier on those bananas were definitely NOT dancing....

[Aidy]

Brilliant news!!
Enjoy and keep us updated how you are getting on!!!

[Aidy]

Would just like to add, that earlier on those bananas were definitely NOT dancing....

And here was me thinking you weren't a fan of them

[Rights Fighter]

Would just like to add, that earlier on those bananas were definitely NOT dancing....

They do if you ask them nicely!!!

Or maybe you are on a phone or tablet that doesn't allow animations?

[AmandaF]

All I can say is:


All the very best for your futures

[WhyUs]

Congratulations ... here are a few more....

[innocentson]

Nightmare over ; more info in case it helps

Hi all : conscious I promised to add more detail in case it helps... to be honest though - there is so much to say it would turn into a novel...
the original details of the case were in my original post ; but in summary an allegation dating back 9 years when my son was a student. He knew nothing about it being reported as an assault until Jan this year. students at the time, consensual sex, but girl cried rape as boyfriend had called police ... suspecting something. she withdrew it 5 days later ....
This was set for 3 day trial - but resulted in 7 days !
Day 1 & 2 … Applications argued for:
a) abuse of process e.g:
- lost evidence (DNA, CCTV, Complainants phone & witness phone
- no follow up of identified potential witness
- no disclosure of lots of evidence re cctv in area
- OIC for 2014/15 - questioned on stand and lied on oath re stating he hadn’t read certain file notes /disregarded evidence that supported the defence etc

b) inadmissibility of complainants VRI (completely police lead throughout and pushed to provide additional details not stated in her original statement in 2006….

- Result - judge did not support Abuse of process to stay the trial – however made significant concessions eg list of Agreed Facts . He did agree that her Video evidence was not admissible and she had to give live evidence.
- Jury sworn in - 3 men and 9 women (mostly younger women , older men and a few mature ladies)

Day 3 – Jury given background and outline of court procedure / their responsibilities…
Prosecution set out their case - numerous inflammatory statements made
Prosecution call complainant - who was given special measures e.g. hidden from court behind a curtain, not seen by the defendant or public gallery… lead through her statement and allowed to re-read it … spilt the obligatory tears at certain points and painted a picture of violent assault … etc
Under cross examination her story unravelled ; repeatedly responded with “cant remember” to numerous questions..
Jury perception started to swing from sympathetic to confusion and disbelief : although it was hard to read them (good poker players I suspect)

Day 4 am - prosecution continued in the morning with boyfriend from 2006 He confirmed he called the police as he was concerned when she called him at 3.30am in the morning stating she was being chased….. again his story didn't stack up , when cross examined on why he was remember more in 2015 than he did in 2006
Day 4 pm -
Defence counsel outlined the defence case – and called the OIC from 2014/15 to explain key points outlined previously in abuse of process e.g. lost and unlisted evidence. Plus the limited / non existent attempts to locate key evidence and why he didn’t pursue further e.g. undermines the prosecution case.

Day 5
Prosecution continued to cross question the defendant and the only point he stayed on was why he stated no comment in interviews - be wary og this as they seem to focus on it. However as the police gave no details throughout the interviews our solicitors advice was to state "no comment "... so he was following guidance from a legal expert !
Defence counsel outlined the gaps in evidence , discrepancies of witnesses, incompetence of police / oic and emphasised the voluntary early return of defendant to respond to police enquiries – without knowing any detail and without being given any information throughout the police interviews……
Day 5 concluded mid day ad judge had a prior trial “sentencing” to conclude that he couldn’t move.
Court adjourned for the weekend !!!! (weekend of hell for the defence !)

Day 6 - Defence character references provided ; presented live by 3 and others read out . I believe these carried a lot of weight with the jury, so DO use these in your trials if possible.
Summaries next
- Prosecution summary given first (approx. 1 hour ) repeating in detail the case for the prosecution based on the
Complainants sketchy account , and those of her boyfriend (who called the police ) etc
- Defence summary given next (approx. 2.5 hours) This included reminded the jury that statute of limitations doesn’t exist and therefore they need to conduct their duties with great care as they are the checkpoint ….. outlined all the numerous inconsistencies that had previously been pinpointed and confirmed the defence case of consensual sex and the fact that the complainant, having been caught out by her boyfriends suspicions, cried rape (even withdrawing her complaint 5 days later)….
- Judges Summary - circa 2 hours The judge outlined the whole case – for prosecution and defence ; Confirmed key facts eg no dna or cellular material. Also undoubted character of defendant – no previous history or since etc …
Jury dismissed at 3.45 for their usual break (15 -20 minutes ) and agree a foremen before closing at 4.30.

Day 7 - judge told jury their responsibilities and asked them to try and reach a unanimous verdict AT 10.41 am -Jury re- entered (circa 10 minutes !)
“Not Guilty”
We were all overjoyed with relief and all cried … some of the jury did too
- Judge went on to thank the judy and the QC’s for acting with respect to the court and also commended the defendant and his family and supporters for their exemplary behaviour throughout the trial.

In the interim :
– the complainant remains anonymous, no actin taken against her for perverting the course of justice , paid for holiday having been flown back by the cps from country where she now lives and ruining the life of our family for over a year and costing us most (probably all when all bills paid) of our pension savings…. Interesting to note - not one member of her family (or friends - as far as we could tell) were in court throughout the proceedings ! Police OIC (seen being hugged and kissed by a prosecution witness and having being proved incompetent, untruthful and I suggest corrupt ………. Is now apparently a DC

Sadly - the key things to take away is that the police / CPS don't care if your innocent. They (from our one experience ) appear to actually only be interested in evidence that supports their case.... (we had to take them to court under section 8 to gain disclosure of key evidence and even then "found" more on the first day of trial that they hadn't even listed on on unused or sensitive lists ).

You need to keep calm and believe in that the truth will come out and in the interim, collate as much info as you can in terms of timelines, review all prosecution statements evidence and identify the inconsistencies, gain character references etc and have confidence in your legal team. We were concerned at one point, as nothing seemed to be happening for a long time ; but now we know it was because there was not much they can do until it gets closer to trial and they have the prosecution evidence.

Finally - our Barrister ; Eleanor Laws - was fantastic !!!! ... I cant recommend her highly enough - she's very approachable, extremely quick witted, experienced and an awesome orator... Not cheap ; but I suspect no barristers are. Likewise our solicitor - Rob Rodes of ABR solicitors in Leeds made a good double act with Eleanor ; developing supporting evidence such as map of location indicating volume and position of cctv cameras etc.

We're now in recovery mode ; sleep is getting easier but I still wake up thinking the ending is a dream and then I calm down again. I wont be returning to work for a while now I think , but fortunately my son has managed to return to work (although I'm worried that he will have PTSD at some point ) but we'll take it as it comes.
I am considering writing a book about events as this is a lot more to it than I have put here.
Also possibly considering raising police / CPS complaint ; but not sure it will do any good and may pro long the bitterness... Make no mistake - FALSE ACCUSATONS make victims of us all !!!

Not sure this will help anyone - but if nothing else ; it might help you to understand the roller coaster ride to expect and the euphoria of emotions, when your innocence is finally proven
Good luck and best wishes to anyone else in this awful situation.
x
PS - Many thanks to all who offered support on this website and PAFFA too ... (& one in particular who really helped me e.g. "can it get any worse" : your a star ! as it RF of course ;o) - I found great comfort during the last year knowing we weren't alone and reading others who either got the right result or managed to survive through the nightmare of injustice. If I can help any others going through similar pain ; I will try

[Casehardened]

Thank you for such an insightful write-up of your experiences, I'm sure that those members who will be in the same situation will draw some comfort from reading this.

As you were happy with your solicitors & barrister perhaps you would wish to add their details onto the Solicitor's thread in the Useful Information section of the forum mentioning whether or not they accept legal aid cases.

[Rights Fighter]

Day 5
Prosecution continued to cross question the defendant and the only point he stayed on was why he stated no comment in interviews - be way or this as they seem to focus on it. However as the police gave no details throughout the interviews our solicitors advise was to state no comment ...

This is important. You saw yourself how it can be used against the defence when they go "no comment" in interview. Fortunately you had a strong defence so the jury would have ignored it. In other cases the jury do take that into consideration, where there is little evidence.

Day 6 - Defence character references provided ; presented live by 3 and others read out . I believe these carried a lot of weight with the jury, so do use these in your trials if possible.

This has cropped up a few times on here. It probably would have little effect on the verdicts, if any, but it shows that the def has support and people believe him.

Sadly - the key things to take away is that the police / CPS don't care if your innocent. They (from our one experience ) appear to actually only be interested in evidence that supports their case.... (we had to take them to court under section 8 to gain disclosure of key evidence and even then "found" more on the first day of trial that they hadn't even listed on on unused or sensitive lists ).

This is something that is possibly more important than the evidence obtained before the trial. The police will hide evidence and then put it into the unused AFTER a conviction, so it cannot be used.

We were concerned as nothing seemed to be happening for a long time ; but now know its because there's not much they can do until it gets closer to trial and they have the prosecution evidence.

This is what I try to tell people when they panic a month or so before the trial. Often what is required only becomes available days before the trial starts, often after a tussle with CPS.

Finally - our Barrister ; Eleanor Laws - was fantastic ... I cant recommend her highly enough - she's very approachable, extremely quick witted, experienced and awesome orator... Not cheap but I suspect no barristers are. Likewise our solicitor - Rob Rodes of ABR solicitors in Leeds made a good double act with Eleanor ; developing supporting evidence such as map of location indicating volume and position of cctv cameras etc.

Links and contact details please? You mentioned spending a lot of money so I'm thinking you were private client? Do they undertake legal aid work?

[Staystrong1]

Well put

Hi all : conscious I promised to add more detail in case it helps... to be honest though - there is so much to say it would turn into a novel...
the original details of the case were in my original post ; but in summary an allegation dating back 9 years when my son was a student. He knew nothing about it being reported as an assault until Jan this year. students at the time, consensual sex, but girl cried rape as boyfriend had called police ... suspecting something. she withdrew it 5 days later ....
This was set for 3 day trial - but resulted in 7 days !
Day 1 & 2 … Applications argued for:
a) abuse of process e.g:
- lost evidence (DNA, CCTV, Complainants phone & witness phone
- no follow up of identified potential witness
- no disclosure of lots of evidence re cctv in area
- OIC for 2014/15 - questioned on stand and lied on oath re stating he hadn’t read certain file notes /disregarded evidence that supported the defence etc

b) inadmissibility of complainants VRI (completely police lead throughout and pushed to provide additional details not stated in her original statement in 2006….

- Result - judge did not support Abuse of process to stay the trial – however made significant concessions eg list of Agreed Facts . He did agree that her Video evidence was not admissible and she had to give live evidence.
- Jury sworn in - 3 men and 9 women (mostly younger women , older men and a few mature ladies)

Day 3 – Jury given background and outline of court procedure / their responsibilities…
Prosecution set out their case - numerous inflammatory statements made
Prosecution call complainant - who was given special measures e.g. hidden from court behind a curtain, not seen by the defendant or public gallery… lead through her statement and allowed to re-read it … spilt the obligatory tears at certain points and painted a picture of violent assault … etc
Under cross examination her story unravelled ; repeatedly responded with “cant remember” to numerous questions..
Jury perception started to swing from sympathetic to confusion and disbelief : although it was hard to read them (good poker players I suspect)

Day 4 am - prosecution continued in the morning with boyfriend from 2006 He confirmed he called the police as he was concerned when she called him at 3.30am in the morning stating she was being chased….. again his story didn't stack up , when cross examined on why he was remember more in 2015 than he did in 2006
Day 4 pm -
Defence counsel outlined the defence case – and called the OIC from 2014/15 to explain key points outlined previously in abuse of process e.g. lost and unlisted evidence. Plus the limited / non existent attempts to locate key evidence and why he didn’t pursue further e.g. undermines the prosecution case.

Day 5
Prosecution continued to cross question the defendant and the only point he stayed on was why he stated no comment in interviews - be wary og this as they seem to focus on it. However as the police gave no details throughout the interviews our solicitors advice was to state "no comment "... so he was following guidance from a legal expert !
Defence counsel outlined the gaps in evidence , discrepancies of witnesses, incompetence of police / oic and emphasised the voluntary early return of defendant to respond to police enquiries – without knowing any detail and without being given any information throughout the police interviews……
Day 5 concluded mid day ad judge had a prior trial “sentencing” to conclude that he couldn’t move.
Court adjourned for the weekend !!!! (weekend of hell for the defence !)

Day 6 - Defence character references provided ; presented live by 3 and others read out . I believe these carried a lot of weight with the jury, so DO use these in your trials if possible.
Summaries next
- Prosecution summary given first (approx. 1 hour ) repeating in detail the case for the prosecution based on the
Complainants sketchy account , and those of her boyfriend (who called the police ) etc
- Defence summary given next (approx. 2.5 hours) This included reminded the jury that statute of limitations doesn’t exist and therefore they need to conduct their duties with great care as they are the checkpoint ….. outlined all the numerous inconsistencies that had previously been pinpointed and confirmed the defence case of consensual sex and the fact that the complainant, having been caught out by her boyfriends suspicions, cried rape (even withdrawing her complaint 5 days later)….
- Judges Summary - circa 2 hours The judge outlined the whole case – for prosecution and defence ; Confirmed key facts eg no dna or cellular material. Also undoubted character of defendant – no previous history or since etc …
Jury dismissed at 3.45 for their usual break (15 -20 minutes ) and agree a foremen before closing at 4.30.

Day 7 - judge told jury their responsibilities and asked them to try and reach a unanimous verdict AT 10.41 am -Jury re- entered (circa 10 minutes !)
“Not Guilty”
We were all overjoyed with relief and all cried … some of the jury did too
- Judge went on to thank the judy and the QC’s for acting with respect to the court and also commended the defendant and his family and supporters for their exemplary behaviour throughout the trial.

In the interim :
– the complainant remains anonymous, no actin taken against her for perverting the course of justice , paid for holiday having been flown back by the cps from country where she now lives and ruining the life of our family for over a year and costing us most (probably all when all bills paid) of our pension savings…. Interesting to note - not one member of her family (or friends - as far as we could tell) were in court throughout the proceedings ! Police OIC (seen being hugged and kissed by a prosecution witness and having being proved incompetent, untruthful and I suggest corrupt ………. Is now apparently a DC

Sadly - the key things to take away is that the police / CPS don't care if your innocent. They (from our one experience ) appear to actually only be interested in evidence that supports their case.... (we had to take them to court under section 8 to gain disclosure of key evidence and even then "found" more on the first day of trial that they hadn't even listed on on unused or sensitive lists ).

You need to keep calm and believe in that the truth will come out and in the interim, collate as much info as you can in terms of timelines, review all prosecution statements evidence and identify the inconsistencies, gain character references etc and have confidence in your legal team. We were concerned at one point, as nothing seemed to be happening for a long time ; but now we know it was because there was not much they can do until it gets closer to trial and they have the prosecution evidence.

Finally - our Barrister ; Eleanor Laws - was fantastic !!!! ... I cant recommend her highly enough - she's very approachable, extremely quick witted, experienced and an awesome orator... Not cheap ; but I suspect no barristers are. Likewise our solicitor - Rob Rodes of ABR solicitors in Leeds made a good double act with Eleanor ; developing supporting evidence such as map of location indicating volume and position of cctv cameras etc.

We're now in recovery mode ; sleep is getting easier but I still wake up thinking the ending is a dream and then I calm down again. I wont be returning to work for a while now I think , but fortunately my son has managed to return to work (although I'm worried that he will have PTSD at some point ) but we'll take it as it comes.
I am considering writing a book about events as this is a lot more to it than I have put here.
Also possibly considering raising police / CPS complaint ; but not sure it will do any good and may pro long the bitterness... Make no mistake - FALSE ACCUSATONS make victims of us all !!!

Not sure this will help anyone - but if nothing else ; it might help you to understand the roller coaster ride to expect and the euphoria of emotions, when your innocence is finally proven
Good luck and best wishes to anyone else in this awful situation.
x
PS - Many thanks to all who offered support on this website and PAFFA too ... (& one in particular who really helped me e.g. "can it get any worse" : your a star ! as it RF of course ;o) - I found great comfort during the last year knowing we weren't alone and reading others who either got the right result or managed to survive through the nightmare of injustice. If I can help any others going through similar pain ; I will try

Hi

Very well written and virtually mirrors OH experience at trial recently. We too were lucky to have a fantastic solictor and barrister. You will still be reeling from it all. Its nearly 3 months since OHs trial, only just beginning to feel normal again so it will take you a
while too come back down to earth. X

[SalvationNeeded123]

Thank you so much for that very detailed account. Rests my mind a little, which tends to overwork.

You stated the QC's? Were both prosecution and defence barristers QC's?

[innocentson]

Apologies for delayed response to queries

Sorry I missed the q's as we've been away and generally catching up on normal life since the NG verdict in December

Eleanor laws was our QC & a silk to boot. Very very good at her job, she's been on some high profile cases in the news this year. Ours was not a big deal for her in comparison but she nevertheless pulled out all the stops and went so far as to say the OIC was the worst she had ever experienced : calling him incompetent and tearing him to pieces (in a subtle way) wheever she got the opportunity.

Eleanor has just changed chambers from 1 pump court , London to QEB chambers in London I gather. Sorry I don't have the link but suspect she will come up when googled. But she travels all over .

We went private (not sure if she does legal aid) but we wanted to choose who we had. Our solicitor (rob Rodes of ABR in leeds) negotiated a set scale and even though the trial went on to 7 days, she kept within it.

We also had quite a few additional court appearances during the 12 months from charge to hearing to get bail, then bail relaxations (x3) and she won all of those too. So I suspect that put our costs up even more than she could help.

Not sure if this helps further

Regards and good look to all still in the nightmare of a FA

[innocentson]

Hi

Very well written and virtually mirrors OH experience at trial recently. We too were lucky to have a fantastic solictor and barrister. You will still be reeling from it all. Its nearly 3 months since OHs trial, only just beginning to feel normal again so it will take you a
while too come back down to earth. X

Thank you stay strong
- it's a weird feeling isn't it .... Like its turning into a memory of a nightmare at some points & then something small triggers a flashback

But keeping busy and just returned to work, so hopefully the painful memories will start to fade quicker.
Sadly I worry more about my son, as he appears to be embracing life, but not sure if that is his way of trying to ease my worries by not showing me if he is suffering from PSTD or whatever

Just have to wait and be there as needed I guess

[innocentson]

Thank you so much for that very detailed account. Rests my mind a little, which tends to overwork.

You stated the QC's? Were both prosecution and defence barristers QC's?

Hi
Yes they were both
QC ... But ours (eleanor laws) was also a silk (which I think means more senior )

The prosecution one was very much older & not as quick witted but nevertheless was sneaky with it & knew his stuff. But I got the impression he was not happy at being assigned the case as he kept referring to having only been given it in the last 3 weeks and asking for more time or droning on over the same points to what I thought actually irritated the jury at times

Good luck with your case : stay strong and remain calm if you can

[Rights Fighter]

...................

Eleanor laws was our QC & a silk to boot. Very very good at her job, she's been on some high profile cases in the news this year. ...................

Just so other members know, a QC (Queen's Counsel) is a barrister who has "taken Silk". All QC's are "a silk".

Not all QCs are particularly good and I've seen some fabulous junior barristers in action. I remember seeing a QC at the CA some years ago, and she was retelling the court all the discrepancies and inconsistencies in the complainant's evidence.

I sat watching that for about 20 minutes thinking "the jury heard all that so why is she repeating it now? It won't make any difference". Then I thought "maybe I've been taught wrong on that aspect".

Suddenly the presiding judge asked her: "Mrs P*****, why are you telling us all this?"

Mrs P: "Because it's one layer of lies after the other".

Judge: "You should know that we cannot consider anything that the jury heard, yet still convicted on......"


Virtually every appeal that I have attended and which succeeded (apart from one), and almost every trial I have been involved in that got NG verdicts were conducted by a junior barrister. Even then, in trials where solicitor Chris Saltrese has had conduct,(Chris uses Tania QC) but he has also instructed a junior barrister, David Potter, who some members on here had for their loved ones' trial - and won.

I've also worked on appeals where defence trial counsel was a QC.

I am saying all of this because I don't want members thinking that the only way they will get justice is to pay for it and also have the services of a QC. I know many families who have sold everything to keep their loved one out of prison to pay for solicitors and a QC (and sometimes a legal enquiry agent / private investigator) and then failed and lost everything.

It is the choice of solicitor and barrister that is paramount, not how much you pay.

Innocentson, please don't think I am taking anything away from your case - I am not. It's just that so many people here cannot afford to pay and then worry themselves sick that they won't get justice.

Eleanor Laws QC is incredible!