Our thanks to Richard for this. An extract:
A celebrity lawyer is calling for people who make false rape and sex assault allegations to be stripped of their statutory anonymity and named on a public register.
The comments by Nick Freeman, nicknamed ‘Mr Loopole’ for his record helping clients fight motoring offences, come after the trial of 22-year-old student Liam Allan, who was charged with rape, dramatically collapsed.
Mr Freeman, who runs Manchester-based Freeman and Co Solicitors, argues the case is just the ‘tip of the iceberg’ and false allegations are being made on a ‘daily basis’. [J4MB emphasis]
A later extract:
But (Labour) MP Liz McInnes, who had previously objected to a complainant’s sexual history being used in evidence, told the MEN (Manchester Evening News) a register would only make it more difficult for victims of sexual assault. [J4MB: She clearly has no interest in the register protecting men from the company of women determined to ruin their lives.]
She said: “I would be quite wary about changing the law on the basis of one case. In that particular case justice was done in the end and I don’t see any reason to change the law around anonymity.
“I think the statistics show that the numbers of false allegations are very, very small compared to the total number of cases. If there were statistics showing that a large number of rape allegations were false then it would be different, but that’s not the case.
The claim that false rape allegations are rare is patently untrue. After all, what incentives do women who’ve made false rape allegations have for admitting they lied? The truth is that false rape allegations are common, and the only reason most of those allegations aren’t tested in courts is that even the CPS know they have no chance of a conviction (though even that often doesn’t stop them). Also, we have shown that the CPS only make charging decisions in relation to false allegations in a minority of the cases brought to them by police – and you can be sure those cases are watertight, or close to it. And ask yourself, if you were a serving police officer today, would you be asking the CPS to make charging decisions for prosecuting women for making false rape allegations? It would be career suicide.
Justice for Men & Boys 
I believe the Courts should not give either complainant nor defendant anonymity. I realise its hard, but since the change in the 1970s we have seen the shift from Criminal Courts to “Kangaroo Courts”.
The most vital component is to change the guidance and behaviour of the Police and the CPS. The Police are the most important in this as their duty in law is to investigate. It is at this point that liars should be exposed, as would have been easy in the Allan Case. It is a failure of policing if accusations are made and are not investigated. The CPS are required to check the case for weaknesses, such as sloppy or incomplete investigation. Clearly the Police modify their behaviour to the priorities of the CPS (it being wasted effort to work on the sorts of cases the CPS aren’t interested in prosecuting and vice versa) however their duty in law is to investigate. It is first and foremost the Police who have to change.
To be frank I think malicious female complainants are not prosecuted because of the well attested generally indulgent attitude to all female defendants. Again police and CPS are likely to find a case results in a suspended sentence, as we are used to reading on this Blog. I think it easier to get the Police to do their job than shift the chivalrous behaviour of Judges.
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I agree sexual assaults should be made the same as all other crimes so that the accused and accuser are both named. It is important that justice is open so can be seen to be done and naming accused and accuser means that anyone who know facts relevant to the case can disclose them. Exceptions should apply to children or those with reasonable evidence that they have bene subject to blackmail. The presumption of innocence, the obrium that alleged sexual offenders are subject to, and the sympathy extended to alleged victims of sexual crimes means that if anyone should have anonymity it should be the accused.
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Yes it seems particularly ridiculous to suggest that, like children, complainants need protection. In a society that trumpets a woman’s bravery even if the crime is an old man touching her knee. Humans are creatures that form habits, a successful liar will repeat the behaviour. As has been the case in a number of serial accusers. They would probably be unmasked much earlier if anonymity was ended.
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About time
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Liz McInnes would do well to read the late lamented Angry Harry on the matter – I’m delighted to see his excellent analysis is still available: http://www.angryharry.com/Truth-About-Rape.htm
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The figures quoted for false accusations (usually about 2-5%) refer to the prosecutions for false accusations made by the CPS. But only a small proportion of known false accusations are made by the CPS. In one paper I saw, one quarter of listed false accusations were prosecuted, the others not being prosecuted “because it is not in the public interest”, the reasons including “because it will deter victims from coming forward” (of course!), and because the false accuser is thought to be mentally ill. So, we can multiply the first figure by four in this particular case. Next, about 14% of cases are shunted into a group termed “no crime situations”. These are cases where the woman has claimed she was raped, where the police have investigated, and where the police have found WITH ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY that no rape was committed. In other words, they too are false allegations. Finally, those cases not proceeded with, because the police KNOW no rape has been committed, or because the accuser has decided not to proceed (the reasons feminists ALWAYS give for these cases is “the woman could not go through the daunting process”, but, of course, there are other reasons why the woman does not want to continue: she feels she has done enough damage already; she fears her lies are about to be discovered), are not recorded at all. So, going on the above, we get figures of 22% to 34% – AT LEAST – for known false accusations.
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False allegations account for 90% of all sexual assaults & rapes reported to the police.
Note that the set of sexual assaults / rapes reported to the police does NOT equal the set of actual sexual assaults / rapes.
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I agree and you’ve made clearer my intention. It is the Policy and Guidance that fuels this along with the associated “training”. Add in that promotions are influenced by being conversant with Policy and one can see how the “cancer” spreads. Replacing “believe the victim” policies training and guidance with simple reiterations of the duty to investigate would make a big difference over time. As “archer” reminds us it is the police who are in the best position to sort out the false, mistaken or incredible before the more political (“in the public interest” ) CPS get their slippery paws on a case.
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When there were male accusers that ended up on the list they would become more vulnerable to further victimization. Male on male and female on male rapists would seek them out due to knowing they were discredited as witnesses.
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