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Letters sent to Radio 4 "Today" program
from Women Against Rape Ceri Thomas, Editor January 2007 Dear Ceri Thomas We were glad to have been in the programme with Warren Blackwell on 13 January. Giving the subject further thought, there is an important point that is being overlooked in the media coverage of his case and the debate on the law on anonymity. It has been assumed that Ms A who accused Warren Blackwell made previous false allegations of sexual violence. As far as we can gather (not having been allowed to see the evidence at Mr Blackwell’s appeal), his conviction was declared unsafe on the basis that the CPS did not disclose this information at the original trial. Who had decided her previous allegations were false? They never were tested in court. We don’t know what the evidence was in each of those cases or even whether they were properly investigated. But we have interviewed Ms A and are aware that she has accused several men in the past of violence. This does not prove that, in John Humphrys’ words, she "has a history of . . . lying". Of the thousands of victims of rape who have contacted us, many have suffered violence previously, in some cases several times. This is backed up in Home Office research which confirms our experience that these women often face additional prejudice and suspicion when they report. [1] Does this mean that if you report rape more than once in your life you must be a liar? There is no evidence that false allegations of rape are widespread. Home Office research verifies that only 3% of reported rapes are false, a similar number to those in other crimes. Only one in 20 men accused of rape are found guilty. Of those, many get completely inappropriate sentences. A few, very few, women lie, but thousands of women (an estimated 85%) don’t report sexual violence they have suffered. Why is there no media outcry about this? With a conviction rate for reported rape of 5.3% at their hands, neither the police nor the CPS can be relied on for a balanced judgement. Again and again we have seen women’s cases dismissed as untrue on the basis of careless and prejudiced investigations, refusal to gather evidence including to interview witnesses, or misinterpreting evidence which is gathered. At this moment, when rapists are given just a caution by the police, can we have more balance about who is assumed to be lying about rape? Furthermore, Judge Gerald Butler said on your programme that you can’t rely on judges to determine whether the jury found a woman lied and made a false allegation or that there was simply not enough evidence to convict beyond reasonable doubt. He said ‘Trial judges sometimes get it wrong.’ Too true, and it is refreshing to hear even this understatement from the judge’s mouth. We understand that once a person has been cleared of any crime by the court of appeal, he must be treated as innocent, and the media should generally reflect this and not perpetuate suspicion. We also understand that men and women, including broadcasters, will naturally be sympathetic to anyone they think has been falsely accused of rape. However, this sympathy does not mean the woman should be assumed to be guilty. Warren Blackwell seems to be encouraged to make a public campaign to vilify the woman who accused him. By affording him the status and power of authoring his own item, supporting his point of view on the Today programme, and making his "speaking out" a news item, the BBC has contributed to a miscarriage of justice.
Please take this point into account in any future programmes and please ask that others in the BBC also take it into consideration. Yours sincerely Ruth Hall & Lisa Longstaff
Dear Radio 4 Today, I've just called your information people to find out why this message was rejected with the following message:
They were flummoxed, so I'm sending it to you and hope that you might tell me why this has happened... I'm shocked by many of these messages because they assume some kind of anti-male bias on the part of the legal system when we have a 5.3% conviction rate of rapists (that is only those that are actually reported to the police). The idea that the police, the CPS, a judge and a jury will all collude to find an innocent man guilty of rape for the sake of figures is just ridiculous. Plenty of real rapists walk free every week, if not every day. There is no need to convict an innocent man. According to this debate so far, I am someone who would be described as a 'false accuser'. I was raped and the man who raped me was let off. (I discovered that he had been jailed for rape before.) It's shameful that the case of one man, Mr Blackwell, has put into jeopardy the safety of all the women in this country. Perhaps there was a miscarriage of justice in his case. One man. What about the miscarriage of justice that has allowed the man who raped me to walk free to rape another woman? Just as he did before me. Your wife, your daughter, your mother, perhaps? 94.7% of all people judged by the CPS to reasonably have a chance of conviction for rape are now walking our streets, sitting on the bus, drinking in the pub. Don't you think that given the high profile of this case that this woman would have been charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice if there was evidence that she had lied? On the Today programme Mr Humphreys suggested that if the woman involved in the Blackwell case was named then "we'd know immediately that she has a track record". Apart from the fact that she is not a proven liar, this statement from a respected news programme makes her a soft target for rapists. (They exist, I'm sorry to have to inform you.) Because you have said that her past shows that she is lying. Some men, including at least one on this message board, seem to think that rape is a grey area. I can tell you that any decent man knows the difference between consensual sex and non-consensual sex. Every decent man. Yours LM |