accused of event more than 25yrs ago !!!

[falseaccused9390]

totally out of the blue the police called around to my house yesterday and asked to to make a voluntary interview about an incident which apparently took place over 25yrs ago.
the allegation was that i used to visit a house where i used to live and on a number of occasions raped someone visiting.
this was a total shock and the interview was a little hazy - i did have a solicitor.
well since the interview the feeling of sheer shock has turned to anger, this could ruin myself and family - everything i have built up and worked for gone .. in the hands of possibly 12 men/women on a jury.

So my thinking hat came on.

The dates the person said it happened are clearly not right - this person was not living there ... they are 2years out.
I was never in the house with them, as can be evidenced by the owners of the house (it is a long story but this person was put there by social services and due to background could not be left alone)
I have done research on the accuser and their own children have been taken off them and they are in a long battle with the local authority (the same one as they were in) - I strongly feel I am being used as a pawn in a game as this person clearly wants to topple the local social services.
the link with me i think has been established, i did visit to see the owners (i was only 18 at the time, they were family friends) and this year my facebook pic changed to that as I was 18 - we have mutual friends, unknown to me but only after doing research and i suspect she has clicked on the mutual friends, saw my pic from 18 and thought "i know that person" !!
this person has made various posts about this incident online, although not naming me, she states online she told social workers and they didn't believe her but to the police this has not been mentioned - i know for a fact no social worker was ever told as it didn't happen - so inconsistencies here.
online there are literally hundreds of posts from the month this year it was reported .. so i suspect something happened in her life to start this rant and accusation !

Should I go back and make another statement to the police, or wait to see if they come back to me ?

I know its not for me to help the police but I genuinely didn't do it - the last few days have been a nightmare and I am not sure I can take months of uncertainty - is it best to give all this info now so they can deal with it or wait and then let solicitor use it in a trial, but clearly i would like to close this before a trial and court !!

If she is so far out with the dates, 2 years, is this changeable - can she say "oh yeah, it was actually 2 years later and therefore I was 17 and not 15 as i said before ??'

I can now understand why people pay £thousands to make false allegations go away - this is scary, how can i disprove this - i know its not for me to disprove but then 1 persons word against another !!!

[Feelingscared24/7]

Petition to strengthen laws against false allegations

Hi,
So sorry for you and your family, keep your chin up you know it never happened. The feelings you and your family are going through we all know because we are feeling the same. If you can please sign this petition, the link is below.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/164228

I know it did my family good to sign it it gives you something to fight for.


Feelingscared24/7

[Mr B]

Standing advice is never volunteer anything to the Police unless under interview with a Solicitor. The Police only care about your perceived guilt & will tend to ignore evidence of innocence. You are a metric to them.

So if you have found anything on FB / other social media screen shot it. Save it & Email it to yourself.

Do not contact anyone out of the ordinary. Keep a low profile & see where this goes.

I am sure someone with more relevant experience will post up presently.

Stay calm, think, but do very little. Harder than it looks. I know.

Best of luck & research this forum in great detail. It might set your mind at rest.
HTH
Mr B

[Rights Fighter]

I can now understand why people pay £thousands to make false allegations go away

Paying £thousands does not always make false allegations go away. I have dealt with too many appeals where people have thought along the same lines as you, and they ended up in prison. I've also seen many people found not guilty after using well chosen experienced legal aid solicitors and barristers.

I've also seen people pay £thousands after a wrongful conviction in the hope of getting an appeal and that has also failed. Some people on here have contacted a certain "legal enquiry agent" who professes to be an expert. They pay the money and then sometimes do not hear from him again or it fails dismally on useless grounds of appeal.

If you feel you wish to pay privately please shop around first. Do not be swayed by anybody who will try to persuade you that they will win, they never or rarely lose.

Do not be swayed by people who promise the earth - ie - "we can obtain the accusers computers" - no they cannot.

There are many sharks out there. Please, please be very careful.


You also mention potential alibi evidence. Never give this evidence to the police without the advice of an experienced solicitor. The police have a vested interest in reaching rape conviction targets, and some will do so by any means.

Some members have experienced telling the police of such evidence only to find that they (police) have gone to the complainant who then changes his or her story to suit the alibi evidence. The accusers then cite "the trauma of coming forward to the police, that's why I got it wrong".

[Jan11]

Hello and welcome. You will feel a lot of different emotions over the coming weeks.

Definitely don't volunteer anything to the police, they are not your friends. Were you arrested?

Surround yourself with support and also you will find a lot of good people on here. I can understand how you feel about losing everything. I feel like our family is under attack. You have come to the right place.

[falseaccused9390]

Thank you all for your comments.

I know the advice may well be to dont say anything else as its not for me to help the police with their enquiries, this goes against everything that it should be ... But this is a serious situation and I have to listen to experts as opposed to my trust in the system !

My feelings have now gone from sock to anger and disbelief and I am sure these are normal emotions and I suspect there is a roller coaster ride ahead.

I know I did nothing wrong and I am clearly being used in a game she is playing with social services to get her own children back, its surreal and the more I read things the more obvious it is.

She for example on her blogs 2 years ago states a person used to make her do things she didn't want to, yet on the next 10 or so pages explained in great detail what the system is doing to her children as they have all been taken off her - I find it amazing someone who goes into details like "the care system made my children goto school with dirty clothes" doesn't say she was raped !!

She openly states she has ADHD and does things for attention - she has also stopped using things like facebook and only does twitter now as a pattern on her facebook accounts (to which there are many) showed no one ever responded to her .. but on twitter as its an instant feedback media she is constantly on it.

I know a good barrister, if it went to court would find so many holes in the story but she will win regardless .. if its a NFA she can claim " look the system is against me yet again" and if I am convicted its "see I told everyone the system was full of abusers" ...


I have been doing research on barristers (i know I am way down the line for this) but I came across the lady who defended Ken Barlow (william roach) - her name is louise blackwell qc ... I will not get legal aid anyway and if I have to remortgage the house then I will have to do it
Anyone have any experience of this lady ? - she is also in Manchester like myself.

[falseaccused9390]

Hello and welcome. You will feel a lot of different emotions over the coming weeks.

Definitely don't volunteer anything to the police, they are not your friends. Were you arrested?

Surround yourself with support and also you will find a lot of good people on here. I can understand how you feel about losing everything. I feel like our family is under attack. You have come to the right place.

No I was not arrested, in fairness the interview was only about 30mins ..

Very vague, lots of detail about the apparent first incident and nothing about the other times

What I found strange is the accuser stated she had told someone but the police were unable to say of this was confirmed or not (they only had her statement which was 4 pages).


They didn't seem to have done any real background or research (the statement from the accuser was dated 1st week in July) . so they have had 2.5 months !!

All this happened in Manchester many many years ago ... now it cant be that difficult to get records and do some basic investigations.

[Rights Fighter]

I know the advice may well be to dont say anything else as its not for me to help the police with their enquiries, this goes against everything that it should be ... But this is a serious situation and I have to listen to experts as opposed to my trust in the system !

This is not about directing anger at the police because they have interviewed you. It's not about refusing to help with their enquiries as they appear to be believing something that didn't happen.

It's about covering your own back. Too many people have believed that if they tell the police everything they will see it for what it is - lies. Many will merely go back to the complainant who will then change their story as I said earlier.

This IS a serious situation and you need to realise as has been pointed out to you, that "the police are not your friend" no matter how chummy and caring they might come across to you.

You mention "investigations". They will probably "investigate" anything that will help their case. There are some good coppers around but sadly I have dealt with too many appeals where it is clear from the paperwork that they have totally ignored anything that might help the defence case.

They do not always investigate impartially, regardless of what the rules of PACE are......

[Rights Fighter]

Give Chris Saltrese a ring on 01704 535512 - he will tell you it like it is, unlike many other private client solicitors who will tell you what you want to hear.

He is based in Southport so Manchester is local for him.

They didn't seem to have done any real background or research (the statement from the accuser was dated 1st week in July) . so they have had 2.5 months !!

I don't want to worry you, but many people have waited over two years for a decision from the CPS. Some get an answer (often not the one they want) within weeks or months.

Hold on in there and keep posting for support.

[falseaccused9390]

Give Chris Saltrese a ring on 01704 535512 - he will tell you it like it is, unlike many other private client solicitors who will tell you what you want to hear.

He is based in Southport so Manchester is local for him.




I don't want to worry you, but many people have waited over two years for a decision from the CPS. Some get an answer (often not the one they want) within weeks or months.

Hold on in there and keep posting for support.

2 years, wow and in the meantime the evil woman who made this carries on with her own life without a care in the world

I spoke to Chris last week and will certainly be going back to him if I am charged - at the moment there is a very good lawyer locally who is working under the legal aid at investigation stage (as this is not means tested) - but I think it may be worth paying Chris for an hour or so of his time for a 'second opinion' to ensure he also agrees with the actions so far.
This is in no way a criticism to my solicitor but this is my possible freedom here and I would like 2 views on the situation and best way forward.

I need to try, for the sake of my family, and get back to some type of normality here until anything happens.

[Rights Fighter]

There are a fair few members on here who used Chris Saltrese and got the correct verdicts. Hopefully they will be along shortly.

[Casehardened]

If she is so far out with the dates, 2 years, is this changeable - can she say "oh yeah, it was actually 2 years later and therefore I was 17 and not 15 as i said before ??'

Just a thought as to why she seems to have made a 'mistake' with her dates; at 15 years old any defence that the encounter was consensual wouldn't apply, it would be statuary rape!

Sorry to cast yet another issue into the pot.....

[Rights Fighter]

Which is another reason why he should stay silent at the moment...... the police and/or CPS tend to amend such "mistakes" to their advantage.

[TBG1]

As with all newcomers, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to you.

I'm sorry to say that you are only at the very beginning of this. Some of the circumstances of your situation are very similar to mine. The best thing I can do is compare some of the details that you have brought up to my own case for you - This is not because I want to scare you or play a "someone else is always worse off than you" card .... It's simply to demonstrate that the "process" differs wildly compared to what you (and I) thought when it happens to someone else.

You mention that the Police had the statement (of the accuser) for 2 months before interviewing you. My accuser made their statement 7 months before I was approached. So there clearly is no method to these things.

You would think that (in my case) it took that long to gather the relevant information before interviewing me. Wrong. I was interviewed 16 months ago today. In all that time, I have been told only that they are (still) awaiting social services records (on my accuser).

Nobody else has been interviewed in the last 16 months. No charges, arrest or bail. No NFA.

Many things annoy me about it as you can imagine, but I can't shake the thought that what if I was the type of person that does the things I'm accused of??! I've been "on the loose" for nearly 2 years after the Police were informed, free to do who knows what to who!?

As someone who always had a healthy respect for the justice system, I assumed at the outset that these investigations were conducted with an appropriate amount of urgency. After 16 months, I can say now that I was wrong.

Finally - and this is just my opinion - Your accuser's story is vague (wrong dates, circumstances, people etc.,) because it is made up and they can't remember what they need to about that time to make their story believable. Any information that you now hand to the Police will only help the accuser to "remember" details, enabling them to present a more credible fable further down the line. Any information you provide will only prove that they were mistaken, not that they are lying. And mistakes can be "corrected"...especially when the authorities actively encourage it.

Keep posting here - you will find both valuable support and information.


Best Wishes

TBG1

[falseaccused9390]

As with all newcomers, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to you.

I'm sorry to say that you are only at the very beginning of this. Some of the circumstances of your situation are very similar to mine. The best thing I can do is compare some of the details that you have brought up to my own case for you - This is not because I want to scare you or play a "someone else is always worse off than you" card .... It's simply to demonstrate that the "process" differs wildly compared to what you (and I) thought when it happens to someone else.

You mention that the Police had the statement (of the accuser) for 2 months before interviewing you. My accuser made their statement 7 months before I was approached. So there clearly is no method to these things.

You would think that (in my case) it took that long to gather the relevant information before interviewing me. Wrong. I was interviewed 16 months ago today. In all that time, I have been told only that they are (still) awaiting social services records (on my accuser).

Nobody else has been interviewed in the last 16 months. No charges, arrest or bail. No NFA.

Many things annoy me about it as you can imagine, but I can't shake the thought that what if I was the type of person that does the things I'm accused of??! I've been "on the loose" for nearly 2 years after the Police were informed, free to do who knows what to who!?

As someone who always had a healthy respect for the justice system, I assumed at the outset that these investigations were conducted with an appropriate amount of urgency. After 16 months, I can say now that I was wrong.

Finally - and this is just my opinion - Your accuser's story is vague (wrong dates, circumstances, people etc.,) because it is made up and they can't remember what they need to about that time to make their story believable. Any information that you now hand to the Police will only help the accuser to "remember" details, enabling them to present a more credible fable further down the line. Any information you provide will only prove that they were mistaken, not that they are lying. And mistakes can be "corrected"...especially when the authorities actively encourage it.

Keep posting here - you will find both valuable support and information.


Best Wishes

TBG1

Thank you for the reply, I am still in a state of shock as I always had trust in the system and hoped they would get all the facts before putting someone through this ordeal - its not only me but my wife and children who believe me 100% and as a family we will get through this and stronger.

I have an appointment to see the solicitor on Wednesday afternoon and will take everything we have researched over the weekend, we have retained all hard copies just in case things get lost and/or blogs deleted.

My response or "story" is very simple and its no it did not happen, no I have never been alone with that person - whereas hers is vague to say the least and it would be as it never happened.

We have already made plans just in case we need to raise the £20-£30k to defend it as we wont get any legal aid, not that we are rich we are just a normal working family who both work, had our kids young so they left home and almost paid mortgage off - so thanks to working hard and paying mortgage off we have more disposable income than the system allows - wish now we had spent all earnings on **** and not saved and then the system would help .. but in fairness the money is not an issue as whatever it takes I am prepared to fight all the way.

My biggest issue here is that my instinct in the system is to give everything I have to bring to a close early and yet perversely it works the other way - I have to admit my lifetime trust and belief in the English justice system has come into question.
I am not going to do anything without running it past the solicitor and I suspect he will say the same as yourselves - keep everything and if/when charged let them deal with to crush it rather than allowing someone to change story to suit.

I know that I should carry on as normal but its hard - we had a nice holiday booked for mid next year but we should cancel and keep the money in bank just in case - this is unfair on family.

I wish now I had asked more questions and took more note of what was in her statement, I should have asked if they have contacted the witnesses they had said in statement (which I know will be a no as it didn't happen) ... but in the haze and confusion of the interview brain just not functioning.