Tragic. This story relates to Jay Cheshire, who committed suicide at the age of 17 after a false rape allegation in 2015. His mother committed suicide on the first anniversary of his death. At least three women played pivotal roles in driving this young man to take his own life – the young woman who made the false rape allegation, her mother, and a policewoman. Of course, none of them will ever be held accountable. Extracts:

“The tragic story is told in the powerful documentary I Am Not a Rapist, now on Netflix, along with two other traumatic accounts of the consequences of false rape allegations on young men…

“We had a really great relationship,” says Camellia, [J4MB: His elder sister.] who was 21 at the time. 

“We liked the same films, we played PlayStation together. He was a gentleman, sweet and intelligent.

“He told me that he and the girl were involved in foreplay and he was lying next to her and had got on top of her and she just froze. 

“He sat back and kept asking her, ‘What’s the matter? Have I done something wrong?’ and she said that she wanted him to go home. 

Jay called the police himself to try and find out more information. 

“I began texting and calling her and she answered the phone and said, ‘Hi,’ and then her mother grabbed the phone off her and said that they had put in a rape allegation. 

“She added, ‘I’m going to f*****g get him done’.”… [J4MB emphasis.]

He was told a complaint had been made against him and he agreed to go to the station for voluntary questioning. 

As he was still a minor, Camellia went with him. 

“We met with the duty solicitor,” she says. “Because of all the inconsistencies throughout the statement they had originally made of my brother, he was advised to say ‘no comment’ because there was nothing there.”

Camellia was allowed into the interview room with him and remembers the ferocity of the police officer. [J4MB emphasis.] 

“She was all guns blazing,” she recalls. “She didn’t hold back – ‘Did you rape her?’ ‘Did you force her?’ ‘Did you penetrate her?’ 

“Because of the way she was wording things it made Jay want to answer and the more times he said ‘no comment’ when he wanted to answer these questions the more the tears were streaming. 

“I could feel him shaking under my hand. He was being treated like a criminal and I thought, ‘Look at him. He’s a boy’.”

Following his interview, Jay was released under investigation.

“From that moment on he was just a shell of a person,” says Camellia. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever really seen a boy bellow and cry and just be as distraught as he was. It was like he had his soul ripped away.”

Weeks went by without any update from the police, until the family’s efforts to find information finally succeeded. 

“It took us calling them for them to tell us that the girl had dropped the allegation [J4MB emphasis.] and that there would be no further action,” Camellia says.

That was in June 2015 – but by then it was too late to save Jay. 

“By this point, Jay had spiralled completely.”

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