Man charged with rape four years after police branded his 'victim' a liar

Met shame: the Standard’s story
12 April 2012

A man has been charged with rape nearly four years after specialist Met officers dismissed his alleged victim as an "embittered" liar.

The Evening Standard can reveal the case was initially written off as a "no crime" and closed but the woman obtained files under the Freedom of Information Act which forced it to be reopened.

The police documents show the woman was repeatedly described as giving false accounts. They also said she was possibly suffering from "mental health issues" after reporting the alleged attacks by her former lover.

After a new investigation, the man was charged with raping her on several occasions, as well as two other offences. The disclosures will renew concerns about the way the Met's "Sapphire" sex crimes unit tackles allegations of rape.

They follow the revelation that three Sapphire officers from Southwark are facing possible prosecution over allegations that part of a victim's statement was fabricated so that her complaint could be classed as a "no crime" incident.

Leaked internal documents have also shown how officers breached rules in other cases to write off allegations in an apparent bid to improve the unit's "clear-up" rate.

Details of the alleged rapes involved in the new case cannot be disclosed for legal reasons because of the pending trial. But one file states "the victim is completely embittered" and wants to "wreak revenge" on the man. The document adds that "all the research suggests that this woman is a false alleger, a bitter woman who wants this man to pay". Another Met file also casts doubt on the woman's motives, saying: "I also feel that [the complainant] is embittered."

Further documents go further in dismissing the woman's allegations and accuse her of lying, with a report by one officer stating: "I have read the historic rape allegation ... and the investigating officer has PROVED the victim was lying in this case."

The document continues that the victim's account had been "completely undermined" and evidence had been seized that "proved her account was false".

Another report states that the woman has reacted by "making this allegation which the officer in charge believes is malicious/false" and that investigation has "revealed" how she "has lied regarding the circumstances of this alleged matter".

A further file claims that the woman "feigned a collapse" after being told that there was insufficient evidence to support her allegations while another document suggests that the "female may have mental health issues".

The case, which relates to alleged attacks in 2006, was initially closed the following year but was reopened last year.

Detectives from the Met's new centrally run Sapphire unit took up the case and, after a file was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, the man was charged.

The Met said that the woman's complaints had been investigated, but declined to comment further at this stage.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission said that the Met had been responsible for responding to the woman's complaints and that it had not been asked to rule on how the original investigation into the alleged crimes had been conducted.

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