A piece in today’s Times, emphases are ours:
A teenage schoolboy has been cleared of rape after his lawyers uncovered key evidence that proved his innocence but was missed by police and prosecutors.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has publicly blamed police officers for not discovering thousands of social media messages that proved the 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was not guilty.
He was expelled from school after his arrest by Leicestershire police in 2016, when he was 15, [J4MB: The year before he’d have taken GCSEs] and is the youngest victim of the disclosure scandal engulfing the CPS.
Yesterday the prosecution offered no evidence after deciding that there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction. Not guilty verdicts were entered for the 14 charges against him, which included rape against two complainants, sexual assault and sexual activity with a child.
The boy was cleared after the defence found 233 pages of Facebook messages that proved his relationship with the girl of the same age was consensual.
The prosecution had told the defence there were no relevant social media records but yesterday said that this was what they had been told by police.
The defence found the messages in October and say they passed them on to the prosecution then. The CPS claimed that they did not receive them until November. The girl was reinterviewed then and the case was reviewed.
However, the CPS notified Leicester crown court in December that it would be pushing on with the case. Only after further reviews did it drop the case.
Katya Saudek, for the defence, told Judge Nicholas Dean, QC, that she would write to the director of public prosecutions calling for an investigation into the case, which she said had been dogged by catastrophic failings.
Yesterday’s decision comes after a string of rape trials collapsed because of late disclosure of evidence. A review of all rape cases is under way by the CPS after The Times revealed that four trials had collapsed after crucial evidence was disclosed at the last minute.
The review began last month, shortly after this newspaper reported the collapse of the case against Liam Allan, 22, a criminology student accused of rape. Police had failed to disclose texts from a woman that proved his innocence.
Following the decision to drop the case yesterday, a spokesman for the CPS said: “We have a duty to keep cases under continual review. In March 2017, as part of the charging decision, the CPS requested that police investigated social media interactions, but were informed that no messages existed. As a result of new material made available to the CPS in November 2017, further reviews of the case were undertaken.” [J4MB: So why did the CPS notify Leicester crown court in December 2017 that it would be pushing on with the case?]
A Leicestershire police spokesman said: “Social media investigations were carried out but initially nothing was found that had a bearing on the case. [J4MB: In plain English, either the police didn’t check social media records, or if they did, they ignored them.] However, when further information later came to light it was acted upon immediately. We are committed to reviewing the circumstances of this case.”
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Justice for Men & Boys 
“…cleared of rape after his lawyers uncovered key evidence that proved his innocence but was missed by police and prosecutors.”
“Missed”?! HAH! I’d bet that “deliberately ignored” is closer to the truth!
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Social media really has been a godsend for accused men; guess this is one of the reasons why MRA types are always saying Always Be Recording. A sad state of affairs.
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Here’s a radical idea: imagine the pain and expense that could be saved if we started from a presumption of innocence rather than of guilt in these cases. Just a thought.
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As in other cases the new evidence emerging threw doubt on the prior testimony of the complainant. In effect the new evidence strongly suggests that the complainant lied. Will she be prosecuted for what may be very serious criminal offences?
Boy was expelled from school when he was 15. Guilty until proved innocent. Will he be reinstated and compensated? Unlikely. No smoke without fire as they say and he will remain guilty even though proven innocent.
Was there any evidence against the boy other than that of his accuser? In a very high percentage of rape allegations (and other sexual assaults) the only evidence is that of the alleged victim. But the “victim” must be believed. And where does this lead us to? Leon Brittan, Edward Heath, Harvey Procter, Cliff Richard and many more.
If the only evidence is that of the accuser how can any conviction on such evidence be safe?
We are told that there is a very low rate of conviction in rape cases. This assertion comes from dubious sources and probably includes cases that authorities decide not to prosecute. There is a very good reason for this if it is correct. The reason is lack of substantive evidence.
How many innocent men languish in prison? Their lives ruined by lies? Those found guilty of sex crimes are scarred socially and emotionally for the rest of their lives. A life sentence.
Your son could be next.
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no realistic prospect of conviction….offering no evidence….. so let me get this straight, a young man, who for once cannot be named, is dragged through a creaking legal system at great cost and inconvenience…. has his life picked apart, never to be reassembled the way it was before….. and the best they can say doesn’t involve “sorry” or “innocent”? Maybe the police and cps should wonder why people are less inclined to help them with their enquiries these days…..
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I suspect the police, following training by ideological feminist groups, only look for evidence which indicates guilt, and turn a blind eye to that which proves innocence. The accuser is a victim who must be believed. The accused is guilty as hell and must prove his own innocence, and he’ll get no help from the police.
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