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I'll eat a slice of humble pie and apologise for my short-tempered response with regards to my other posts. My excuse is that I don't sleep any more, I go to bed around 11.00pm and wake up every morning at around 1am or 2am and only manage to get back to sleep at around 5am to 6am. My mood in the mornings is not good, I'm irritable and bad-tempered. My wife and I have been under a great deal of stress for nearly a year now - which those of you who've been in similar situations will obviously understand.
I don't really want to go into details about my case, because this forum is open to scrutiny from any interested party. However, a brief outline is that I was accused last year of multiple SO's, going back nearly 40 years. The point I was trying to make (and I'll post a link), is that in June 2013, a new piece of legislation was introduced - the Victim's Right to Review (VRR). As it transpires, the new legislation seems to only have been brought into effect by most local police forces, from April 1st this year - 2015. Not much of an April Fools joke tho'.
It provides a mechanism for any 'victim' of a crime, to ask for a review of an initial CPS charging decision, including NFA. There doesn't have to be any good reason given, it is a 'victim's' right. The initial CPS decision will then be reviewed by the local CPS regional authority, usually by somebody senior to the original individual or team. If the 'victim' is still not happy with the outcome, they have the right to contest the second opinion and seek a third review, from an independent team at the VRR HQ.
So far, from June 2013 up until March 2014, there were 1,186 appeals under the new legislation of which 162 were upheld, or nearly 14%. That may not sound like a great many, until you consider that for every 7 appeals, 1 is upheld. One in seven is a significant number.
What this means, is that in a case such as my own, the complainant will almost certainly appeal and will quite definitely be encouraged to do so by the investigating officer. The investigation has taken many months to undertake and an NFA is not a satisfactory outcome. As I stated in my previous post, if someone has waited nearly 40 years in order to make a range of accusations, why wouldn't they appeal if they can?
I appreciate that some cases are more straight forward than mine and it may be that if a disgruntled ex etc is just 'trying it on' and the case is dropped, there may not be the momentum or incentive to go to appeal. However, in cases such as mine, my original statement, that 'NFA means bugger all' is almost certainly true. When the NFA decision was initially announced, I briefly felt the weight of many months lift and fleetingly saw daylight once again. It was only when I read the VRR document that I realised to my horror, that my case is far from over. I am quite sure that my accuser will go the whole nine yards to put me behind bars.
What conclusions are to be reached from this are the subject of another discussion, but it is clear to me, that an initial CPS charging decision of NFA, is now only one step in the extended psychological agony that these accusations bring into people's lives. Here is the BBC link and also the link to the online document.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28377445
http://www.cps.gov.uk/consultations/...nsultation.pdf
I don't really want to go into details about my case, because this forum is open to scrutiny from any interested party. However, a brief outline is that I was accused last year of multiple SO's, going back nearly 40 years. The point I was trying to make (and I'll post a link), is that in June 2013, a new piece of legislation was introduced - the Victim's Right to Review (VRR). As it transpires, the new legislation seems to only have been brought into effect by most local police forces, from April 1st this year - 2015. Not much of an April Fools joke tho'.
It provides a mechanism for any 'victim' of a crime, to ask for a review of an initial CPS charging decision, including NFA. There doesn't have to be any good reason given, it is a 'victim's' right. The initial CPS decision will then be reviewed by the local CPS regional authority, usually by somebody senior to the original individual or team. If the 'victim' is still not happy with the outcome, they have the right to contest the second opinion and seek a third review, from an independent team at the VRR HQ.
So far, from June 2013 up until March 2014, there were 1,186 appeals under the new legislation of which 162 were upheld, or nearly 14%. That may not sound like a great many, until you consider that for every 7 appeals, 1 is upheld. One in seven is a significant number.
What this means, is that in a case such as my own, the complainant will almost certainly appeal and will quite definitely be encouraged to do so by the investigating officer. The investigation has taken many months to undertake and an NFA is not a satisfactory outcome. As I stated in my previous post, if someone has waited nearly 40 years in order to make a range of accusations, why wouldn't they appeal if they can?
I appreciate that some cases are more straight forward than mine and it may be that if a disgruntled ex etc is just 'trying it on' and the case is dropped, there may not be the momentum or incentive to go to appeal. However, in cases such as mine, my original statement, that 'NFA means bugger all' is almost certainly true. When the NFA decision was initially announced, I briefly felt the weight of many months lift and fleetingly saw daylight once again. It was only when I read the VRR document that I realised to my horror, that my case is far from over. I am quite sure that my accuser will go the whole nine yards to put me behind bars.
What conclusions are to be reached from this are the subject of another discussion, but it is clear to me, that an initial CPS charging decision of NFA, is now only one step in the extended psychological agony that these accusations bring into people's lives. Here is the BBC link and also the link to the online document.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28377445
http://www.cps.gov.uk/consultations/...nsultation.pdf
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