Falsely accused of gangrape...Advice Needed!!!!

[pmb]

My two brothers, a friend and I have recently been accused of gang rape by a ex-girlfriend of my brothers.....we are all respected members of a small rural community....we have a local business that employs 6 people and is also respected in our community.....I'm not too sure of how much detail i can go into as i have been warned that the plod trawl sites like this and some of the accusations are horrifically sordid....in short a ex-girlfriend of my brothers turned up at this party after having been told by everyone accused to not come back into our house....she had been coming to visit us in a obsessive manner 3 months after my brother had broken up with her....we were her idols and her world for a year....she was always kinda loopy but in a fun innocent endearing way.....she had been fired two weeks earlier from her permanent job of 6 months due to lack of trust by her boss and colleagues....anyways....at the party she proceeded to get very drunk and eventually passed out on a bed in a adjourning room after throwing herself at everyone accused. In the morning she was throw out of the building as we had to tidy up...she was told never to come back again. She came back the next day and asked what had happened the previous night as she recalled nothing...we informed her that nothing embarising had happened and she then left.

Two weeks later she phoned and told us that she thought that she had been raped but at least two people....we tried to calm her down and reassure her that she was safe all evening....

Three days later the four of us were arrested on suspicion of rape. We were take to a station and after been held in solitary for 6 hours were questioned...at no point did any of us ask for a solicitor although we were offered one, we naively presumed that we we're innocent and did not need to defend ourselves from anything.....during the taped interview we were questioned about the evening and after that we were read excerpts of a handwritten statement she had written. The details of which were so horrific as anything anyone could imagine....in short gang rape by all 4 of us including double penetration and physical abuse. After hearing this all of us were shocked and nauseous.....we were then discharged. During this time the bed in question had it's mattress and covers removed for analysis.

After this we all left in disbelief....We were at no point immediately worried about the criminal case as there is no evidence including the bedsheets and mattress that goes against us. The only sober people left at the party at the time of the incident were one of the accused and a partner of one of the accused.

The thing that was worrying was that we started hearing that she had been spreading the story to anyone she met. We live in a small community and our reputation and business is at stake. It is hard for anyone hearing her very graphic case, not to have immediate sympathy for her....if she had come to us with the same story with other attackers we would immediately have rallied around her and supported her throughout...

I'm now only starting to comprehend the gravity of the criminal charges against us.

Please let us know of how we should proceed...

Thanks to everyone for listening and thank you to the creators of sites like this for doing an invaluable job to help people like us.

[RFLH]

Please all of you - get decent solicitors - the run of the mill ones will NOT do.

It may be agood idea to remove (but keep) the details of the above post as it could be used against you as plod are known to trawl sites like this. Just post up a general ask for help.

I don't want to worry you or your friends - but this is very serious and will be taken as such by the police. The laughing and joking is part of their techniques to make you think you're all mates - you're not - they are out for a conviction, not to help you.

Justice and fair play don't come into it - target rates for convictions do. You may think that because there is no evidence as such that it goes for you - it goes against you. It comes down to her word against yours. Her being drunk or drugged plays no part now the law has changed. If she claims that at some point she said 'no', you're up that well known creek.

I'm sure Rights Fighter or Saffron will be along shortly to fill in the gaps that I've missed, but getting everything written down now is the main priority along with a good solicitor. Did you have legal representation when you were questioned? Please don't tell me that you didn't have one because plod said that if you hadn't done anything you didn't need one .............

[pmb]

Thanks for speedy reply

Thanks RFLH for advice so far....none of the accused every took these allegations seriously as they were so far removed from the truth and even laughable....we don't want to panic at any point but your first post has put the jitters in us....about the lawyer....will it cost allot we are all new to this so have no idea....we are not rich but have some savings....but money is no matter compared to the thought of spending another second in jail.....since my last post i have tried to join PAFAA and am waiting for a reply...I also know of the helpline http://www.false-allegations.org.uk/ or FASO and will ring them later tonight when they open....does anyone have experience with them....?

I'm not sure what you mean about "remove (but keep) the details of the above post" where can i do this...I can't believe that any of what I am saying can be used against me as it is all the truth and exactly what I told the police....?

I understand what you say about the police from all my knowledge of them in other areas I have lived....but where i live the crime rate is so low that bicycle theft gets reported in the papers....The 6 detective constables that arrested us had to drive from 2 hours away as there were no DC in the local area....I still take your advice to heart but to just as an example of their attitude one of the DC questioning my brother had to supress his laughter as he read out the details of the accuser statement as he found it so far fetched...I hope there will be some record of that laughter on tape....

We are all spending alot of time and energy into trying to piece together why she has done this.....we think we are slowly getting there....we think it is part malice and part wanting to justify to herself why we are not her friends any more. Also a big part is being mentally unstable with a over active imagination.

This is of little consequence to us as we believe she will get her just karmic payback in the future but is there any way that if this case is thrown out or we are proved innocent that she will be punished in some form. We are not at all petty or nasty in wanting her to be punnished... I only ask as I think that if she knew the seriousness of her accusations then she may drop the case....could she be charged for wasting police time....?

thanks again for spending the time and energy on this forum.

[RFLH]

Rights Fighter will get round to approving you for admision to PAFAA - she's a very busy lady unfortunately - mostly dealing with people who are innocent and didn't think they'd be sent down.

Keep the post you've made into word and post the bare essentials on the thread.... from what you've written you could be easily identified if this is reported in your local newspaper.

Most of the allegations made against men are downright ridiculous and in some cases physically impossible - but if the CPS think that there is a chance of a win then they will go for it. They are not there to help you. Transcripted tapes will probably not help either, they can be 'tweaked' and if this all sounds scary - then it is. It all may sound stupid, but chaps have been sent down on more ridiculous claims than that. The greatest trouble is that once the ball is rolling its very hard to stop - even if she wanted to do so, she could be prosecuted - so the 'victim' ends up between a rock and a hard place.

You should be able to get Legal Aid, RF is better placed to tell you about it than I am.

Please start writing down every single detail you can remember, make sure your friends do the same but independantly.

[Rights Fighter]

Hello PMB

I received your application for PAFAA forum and await some details from you. However RFLH is quite right - you should highlight your post, copy it and paste it into a Word doc, then edit it to leave only the minimum details. This is an open forum accessible to anybody, police, CPS and SS included.

You said:

none of us are very worried about the criminal proceeding as there is no evidence apart from her statement against us...

Some of my members thought the same thing and they have partners serving a long time in prison or have served a long time in prison for offences that never happened.

Please PM me your location details and I'll see if I know of a good solicitor experienced in false allegations of sexual abuse.

Every person in England and Wales is eligible for public funding (the old legal aid) for criminal defence matters going to trial.

I cannot stress how important it is for you and your brothers/mates to find a solicitor experienced in these matter. I've visited many guys in prisons who thought "they go my mate off that TWOC charge and he was guilty, he's bound to be good" - and there they are serving 4, 5, 6 years and upwards for crimes that were never committed.

You MUST prepare a damn good argument for motive. You will be asked about that at trial by the Crown. If you cannot answer that question apart from "I don't know" or you answer with something weak, then you will go to prison.

The police should have told you that you are entitled to legal advice and they should offer to find you a duty solicitor (some are good but most are usually up Plod's ar*e or inadequate for such serious charges). If they did not offer you the use of a solicitor or told you that you are entitled to one, then they have breached PACE guidelines and would be a ground with which to appeal should you be convicted.

[pmb]

We've just been attacked in our own house!!!

Hi all....we've just been attacked in our own house as we have been sitting around a bbq trying to relax and calm down over this ordeal. The boy in question has a reputation in the village as a troublemaker and has a serious criminal history including aggravated assault....He came into our garden and hit both my brothers who are not small and could easily defend themselves. We all are quite shocked as he threatened to bring a linch mob 20 strong to sort us out. We have phoned the police and will make a statement hopefully getting a restraining order over him....and possibly others.

This is quite serious now and we don't really know how to deal with it all.

I'm just letting you know....feel quite hopeless....

[RFLH]

If there are any further attacks, please keep informing the police.

Take note of everything that happens and if you can, try and get CCTV installed - I know this sounds drastic, but you may find that you may not get much backing from the authorities and you will have to look after yourselves.

I'm sorry to hear that this has happened, sadly you're not the first that's had this sort of thing done to them.

Please keep posting.

[pmb]

Good Weekend

Hello...had a really good weekend doing all the things we normally do with very little talk about incident....all the people we met in street and at a small local festival were very supportive and outraged by the accusations. She will never be allowed back into this community again. This week we will start collecting our stories and find a good lawyer to represent us. We don't want this to consume our lives but don't want to end up regretting not paying it enough attention. Thanks for support so far.....hope you all had a good time in the sun.