A post graduate student teacher has asked if we can get hold of a video copy of the Channel 4 documentary 'Dark side of Modern Romance - Sleeping with Teacher'.
If anyone has a copt and would like to loan it to her please let me know as soon as possible Thankyou
There is a report by todays Times by Fran Yeoman of a a mother and her teenage daughter were given custodial sentences yesterday after falsely accusing the girl’s boyfriend of rape.
Louise Brazil, 47, invented the attack on her daughter, Ada, 16 at the time, after Shaun Howes, then 18, ended his relationship with her and moved out of the family home. Brazil, of Burgess Hill, West Sussex, told police that her daughter was a virgin until the alleged assault in October 2003. Ada, who was five months’ pregnant with Mr Howes’s child by the time the allegations were made in March 2004, went along with the story, claiming that he had pinned her down in her bedroom and raped her.
Mr Howes was arrested but told police that he had shared a bed with her for several months, with her mother’s consent. He was on bail for almost three months before police charged the Brazils with attempting to pervert the course of justice. Ada, now 18, admitted the offence in February, but her mother continued to deny it and was convicted at Hove Crown Court last month. She was sentenced yesterday at Lewes Crown Court to six months’ imprisonment. Full story
The following article By Ian Rosser, Education Reporter
appears in the
Leeds Today
A West Yorkshire teacher who died in prison after being convicted of raping one his pupils has been cleared posthumously.
Timothy Gee was jailed for eight years when he was convicted at Leeds Crown Court in 2001. He fell ill and died from an undiagnosed blood cancer the following year.
Always maintaining his innocence, Mr Gee launched two unsuccessful appeals before his death. He has now been cleared by the Court of Appeal.
Campaigners have described the case as one of the worst miscarriages of justice they have seen.
Gail Saunders, of the campaign group Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers, said: "It is an appalling example of the extraordinary difficulties faced by individuals who are accused of abuse many years after the alleged offence."
Mr Gee's 88-year-old mother Molly has been awarded more than £62,000 costs by the court after battling to clear her son's name. As part of that bid, she contacted the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which asked a leading psychiatrist to report on the girl – now aged 26 – who had accused Mr Gee of rape.
While the study cast doubt on the girl's mental state, it emerged that she had also made similar accusations against another man, whose conviction was quashed earlier this year.
Mrs Gee said: "It all boiled down to one girl's word against his, and the jury believed her. That's all it took to send my son to prison and it has left me very angry and grief stricken. I don't think anyone should have to work alone with a child – it's just too easy for an allegation like this to be made."
Mr Gee, from Lindley, Huddersfield, taught brass instruments for 25 years in Kirklees and Calderdale before he was accused of raping and indecently assaulting a pupil in a Huddersfield school in 1989.
He died aged 55 in August 2002, a month after his second appeal failed.
Overturning Mr Gee's conviction, Lady Justice Smith said that experts now believed the girl's statements to be "unreliable."
25 April 2006
There is a report in the Scotsman of a woman jailed for poisoning an eight-year-old girl by giving her salt is to appeal against her conviction claiming the child's symptoms could have been caused by a drug prescribed by doctors for her to administer at home.
Susan Hamilton, 42, of Broomhouse, Edinburgh, was sentenced to four years in 2003 after the girl, who had feeding difficulties, suffered permanent brain damage following a stroke.Mrs Hamilton hopes new medical evidence will show the injuries could have been caused by Domperidone, a drug prescribed for the child's gastroesophageal reflux disease and which can cause sodium levels to rise.Campaigners said they knew of three other cases in the UK where the drug was involved in salt poisoning cases. Full story
Kerelaw
Posted by News Editor
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
We have been contacted by a victim who has given evidence of abuse taking place at Kerelaw. The victim, who cannot be named, has complained about the news item posted on the F.A.C.T. website on the 23rd April. He is particularly concerned by the description that the Kerealw investigation has all the hallmarks of a modern witch hunt.
F.A.C.T. is sorry if the item has caused any offence. F.A.C.T. accepts that children are sometimes abused by their carers and teachers but believes that the extent to which this happens is exaggerated - as many of the not guilty verdicts in this case demonstrate.
F.A.C.T. also believes that this investigation has many of the hallmarks of the investigation carried out in North Wales in the 1990's which one cultural historian has described as a witch hunt - see The Secret of Bryn Estyn - the making of modern witch hunt
There is an interesting article in the Scottish Sunday Herald by Ian Bell titled - Cutting compensation for miscarriages of justice makes sense … if you Well worth reading
A report in the Sunday Times by Daniel Foggo says Innocent parents are being accused of abuse and that the hunt for abusers may be out of control
Innocent parents are being falsely accused of abusing their children and threatened with having them taken into care, according to a report backed by MPs.
An all-party group of MPs and peers is next month to meet Beverley Hughes, the minister for children, to discuss concerns that the hunt for potentially abusive parents might be out of control. The group says large numbers of parents are being wrongly suspected of Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy (MSBP), a condition where people supposedly fabricate illnesses in their children to gain attention. It wants a review of government guidelines issued to social workers, police and teachers.
MSBP was first identified by Professor Sir Roy Meadow, a paediatrician who was struck off the medical register last year, and later reinstated on appeal, after widespread criticism of his work. He was a key prosecution witness in the cases of Sally Clark and Angela Cannings who were both jailed for killing their children. Their convictions were quashed, however, after Meadow’s theory that some cot deaths were actually murder was discredited.
Despite the government’s official view that MSBP, also known as fabricated or induced illness, occurs in only about one person in a million, up to 12,000 children a year are being taken into care for MSBP- related reasons, according to the report.
The 104-page report, drawn up by Consensus, a group of parents and professionals, says Department of Health guidelines on MSBP issued in 2002 are phrased in such a way as to trigger referrals of parents to social workers even without any evidence.
The guidelines state: “When a possible explanation for signs and symptoms is that they may be fabricated or induced by a carer, and as a consequence the child’s health or development is likely to be impaired, a referral should be made to social services.” Among the cases highlighted are:
- Social workers who claimed a mother was inventing her 14-year-old son’s hearing impediment to get attention, despite medical evidence to the contrary. The boy was removed from an “at risk” register only after doctors protested.
- A vicar’s wife accused by social workers of exaggerating her child’s cerebral palsy to get attention. After the child was put on an “at-risk” register, a judge threw out the case and told the mother she had done nothing wrong.
- A professional couple who were placed under investigation by social workers after a school cast doubt on the seriousness of their six-year-old daughter’s learning difficulties. The child was taken off an “at risk” register only after her parents proved she was autistic.
Damian Green, a Tory frontbench spokesman who is part of the cross-party group, believes the guidelines are encouraging social workers and schools to be overzealous in their attempts to find MSBP. He said: “You have the possibility of huge injustices arising through the inflexibility of these guidelines which are based on questionable theories.”
Other members of the group include Earl Howe, a shadow health minister; Jon Cruddas, the Labour MP for Dagenham; Dr Richard Taylor, a retired consultant and independent MP for Wyre Forest; Nick Gibb, MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton; and Lynne Featherstone, the Lib Dem member for Hornsey and Wood Green.
The MPs are concerned by huge geographical variations in the number of families being placed under investigation by social workers. In 2003, 264,000 parents or children faced “initial assessments” by social workers who suspected possible abuse.
While in Buckinghamshire there were only 540 initial assessments, in Kent the number was 12,510. Even allowing for differences in their populations, parents in Kent were 10 times more likely to be investigated over child protection issues. The report argues this discrepancy may be explained by some areas disregarding the MSBP hypothesis, “whereas in others it is taken as gospel and applied with zeal”.
The report has brought to light a number of harrowing cases. They include that of Tina England, one of Gibb’s constituents, who had both her adopted children placed on an “at risk” register because West Sussex social services thought she had MSBP. Her elder son Donald (not his real name), now 20, who has cerebral palsy and learning difficulties, was experiencing stomach pains and England was advised by medics to put him on a special diet. But social workers became concerned that she was exaggerating his disabilities
and showing signs of MSBP. They considered both Donald and his 14-year-old
brother Nigel (not his real name), who has more severe learning difficulties,
as well as autism and epilepsy, to be at risk.
But social workers became concerned that she was exaggerating his disabilities and showing signs of MSBP. They considered both Donald and his 14-year-old brother Nigel (not his real name), who has more severe learning difficulties, as well as autism and epilepsy, to be at risk.
At a case conference convened by the authority, a doctor who had met neither England nor her children said he had “no problem in using the label Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy in relation to Ms England”.
He had never examined Donald, yet he declared that he did not have cerebral palsy — even though other doctors could provide written diagnoses to confirm that he did. The fact England was so caring for her children counted against her as evidence of MSBP.
A senior social worker for West Sussex wrote that one risk factor (to her children) was that “Ms England gains much of her feelings of self-worth through her perceived dedication to her children’s wellbeing”.
England, 47, said: “I chose to adopt two children who were disabled because I wanted to make a difference to their lives but that was turned against me. They also queried Nigel’s hearing aids and suggested they were unnecessary and I had got them to make him appear more disabled.”
England requested support from Peter West, a consultant who had prescribed hearing aids for Nigel. He wrote to West Sussex social services, saying: “I was surprised and frankly appalled that comments can be passed in a specialist area of this kind without any reference to any of the audiological professionals involved.”
England’s children were taken off the “at-risk” register in April 2001. “I would love to adopt another child but I have no chance as any application I make causes the fact that my children were once on an at-risk register to show up,” she said. “Nor can I work in teaching support, which I am trained to do.”
Another case in the Consensus document is that of Christina and John Crane. Their six-year-old daughter Morgan, who has learning difficulties, was temporarily placed on an “at-risk” register by Kent social services.
A Kent county council report published earlier this year showed that the number of children placed on the at-risk register in Ashford, where the Cranes live, nearly doubled over the previous 12 months, rising from 34 to 62.
Morgan had been “statemented” as having special needs but a teacher at her school referred the parents to social services in May 2004, claiming there were inconsistencies between their description of Morgan’s abilities and what the school observed.
They were then subjected to regular visits by social workers who assessed the family’s relationships to decide whether to remove the children.
John Crane, 42, who runs a kitchen fitting business, said: “During one visit by the social worker Morgan came and sat on my lap and because I hadn’t put my arms around her it was written down that ‘no attempt to show affection was made’.”
The authorities accepted the reality of Morgan’s condition only after it had been confirmed by a child psychologist.
In a third case, Martin and Ann Hewitt, whose 12-year-old son Thomas is autistic, were investigated by social services in Haringey, London, after a teacher raised concerns he was being given too much medication. Although the Hewitts were never accused of having MSBP, Haringey’s “child in need” inquiry ended only when the couple proved they were giving Thomas the exact amount of painkillers prescribed.
A spokesman for Kent county council said: “We are not aware of any problem with excessive numbers of investigations into allegations of fabricated illness in Kent. We are very careful to abide by the Department of Health guidelines. It is a medical diagnosis, not a social services one.”
West Sussex county council, Haringey borough council, and the Department for Education and Skills all declined to comment.
Acknowledgement
A report in the York Daily Recor d [USA] by Cartyl Clarke says that Barry Laughman of Hanover is one of eight former Pennsylvania inmates to win release after DNA evidence proved they had been wrongfully convicted. The 43-year-old man served 16 years of a life sentence for raping and murdering a neighbor in 1987, before DNA tests proved his innocence. He was exonerated Aug. 28, 2004.
Laughman's case would become part of a proposed Innocence Commission study in Pennsylvania.
"It is important to know why someone was wrongly convicted", said state Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery County. He sponsored Senate Bill 1069, which has bipartisan support, to establish an Innocence Commission. State Rep. Steve Nickol, R-Hanover, said that wrongful convictions are a significant issue.
"If people are wrongfully convicted, it brings into question the whole criminal justice system," Nickol said. "It would be wrong if we didn't look at the results from the eight exonerations based on DNA evidence."
The commission would study the underlying causes of wrongful convictions and make recommendations to eliminate the possibilities. "It does not benefit the victim to prosecute the wrong person because it leaves the real perpetrator out there running free," Greenleaf said. "It also takes away the confidence we have in the justice system." (Full story)
For those who mssed it the
Times Educational Supplement this week carries two excellent features on false allegations one concerning
Dary Gee whose conviction was posthumously quashed, and another double page article on false allegations which is not available on line. There is also a report about Darryl in the
Daily Mail ond on the
BBC online service
Kerelaw Trial Verdict
Posted by News Editor
Sunday, April 23, 2006
In the first of the Scottish Kerelaw trials art teacher Matthew George, 56, and residential care worker John Muldoon, 53, who worked at Kerelaw School, Ayrshire, have been found guilty of physically and sexually abusing some of children they looked after. The pair faced 85 charges dating back 30 years. George was found guilty of 18 charges and Muldoon was found guilty of four. Sentence was deferred for reports. Other trials in relation to Kerelaw are expected later this year. (see BBC report)
Our thoughts are with Matthew and John and their families, and all those who have been caught up in a investigation which has all the hallmarks of a modern witch hunt with which F.A.C.T. members are so familiar.
There is very interesting and thought provoking article by Jenny Bristow in
Spiked Online about the Governments response to concerns about teachers posing a risk to children. You can access it
here.
This reports has echoes of a similar article written by Mike Hume in the Times (20th Jan 2006) titled
Who will vet the vetters and protect my children from fear and mistrust?
There is an interesting article in todays Times about the Home Secretary's intention to limit compensation paid out to wrongly convicted people. The article can be found here
A similar report appears in the Daily Telegraph (here)
Richard Webster
Posted by News Editor
Friday, April 21, 2006
Among the six authors shortlisted for the 2005 Book Award for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing was
Richard Webster for his book the
Secret of Bryn Estyn - the making of a modern witch-hunt.
 |
The others were:
- Black Gold of the Sun: Searching for Home in England and Africa by Ekow Eshun
- Urban Grimshaw and the Shed Crew by Bernard Hare
- Frontline: The True Story of the British Mavericks Who Changed the Face of War
- Reporting by David Lyon
- Moses, Citizen and Me by Delia Jarrett-Macauley
- I Didn't Do it For You: How the World Betrayed a Poor African Nation by Michela Wrong.
|
The winner of the Book Award for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2005 was Delia Jarrett-Macauley for her novel Moses, Citizen and Me, published by Granta.
TES
Posted by News Editor
Friday, April 21, 2006
This weeks
Times Educational Supplement leads with the story of Darryl Gee's posthumous aquittal of rape charges
The following Article by Rhona Gangul appear on the ICBirmingham website (here)
Teacher Philippa Jones, who was falsely accused of hitting a pupil, yesterday slammed the lack of support given to state school tutors. Speaking for the first time about her ordeal, the 56-year-old gave a damning testimony, saying: "I think many teachers have become used to abuse each day." Ms Jones, of Edgewood Road, Kings Norton, was banned from working for several weeks after being falsely accused. Finding it impossible to cope with the situation, she suffered a nervous breakdown and was forced to send her 11-year-old daughter Eleanor to live with her other daughter Laura, aged 28, while she recovered.
Ms Jones was cleared three weeks after the alleged attack at Watermill Primary School in Selly Oak, when the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to take the case further. However, her ordeal did not end there. In spite of the case being dropped, West Midlands Police took her fingerprints, a 'mugshot' and a DNA sample. Last month she took the police to court, where the force finally accepted the evidence had been taken without "appropriate authority" and removed it from its database.
Ms Jones's troubles first began last May. Having already taught two year groups at Watermill Primary, the mother-of-two ignored the warnings of a learning assistant about the "rogue class" she was about to teach. But a phone call from Bournville police station days later asking her to attend an interview meant Ms Jones's view that the day had gone well was far from true.In addition to trying to get the samples removed, Ms Jones said she was told she was not allowed to work. I was not allowed to teach so as a supply teacher it meant I had no income," she said. "The income I had been used to for several years suddenly diminished. What was really difficult was I sent my daughter to an independent school and had to make the decision to withdraw her and send her to another one. I was living on child benefits and a little bit of maintenance."
Ms Jones said it was important for other schools and teachers to learn from the incident. Although she still teaches at state schools Ms Jones said she has become disillusioned with the state sector and the increasing attitude problem of many children. She blamed larger class sizes and a lack of support for teachers dealing with disruptive children for the dropping standards in state primary schools. The teacher, who has worked in more than 250 primary and special schools in Birmingham, said she had not received an apology from the school or from the child's family. "I don't even know who he was. I only had the class for a morning," she said.
"It was a school I enjoyed going to. I had been there a year earlier and had taught reception and year one. "During the half term I had a phone message from Bournville police station, saying would I contact them because there had been an incident in the school. "They said it was nothing to worry about and they could not tell me what it was but they wanted me to attend an interview and I had to wait three weeks."As it was half term, I could not get in touch with my union and I was quite worried. I thought maybe I had not given out the scissors fairly, stepped on a toe or called a child by the wrong name.
"At the police station I was told that after school the boy had accused me of hitting him on the hand with a ruler. "He said I told him 'hold out your hand boy' but I have never addressed a child as 'boy'. It is not the way the police dealt with it. It is the consequences that have upset me. "You do not expect to be arrested and put in a cell and treated like a criminal. That is what I found so appalling. Generally I have a lot of admiration for teachers. They give an awful lot of their energy to children but our patience is really stretched at times. "Some children's thoughtless actions can lead to illness and suffering to families and other children. I can't help thinking about children in poor countries where they really want to be educated. "There is no way they would throw education back at you and I think many teachers have become used to abuse each day. "At Christmas I was speaking to someone who was being attacked by some pupils. She dared not defend herself because she would have been accused of assault."
According to a report in the Times law firm's deal with a mining union on settling hearing-loss claims has cost the men their damages while solicitors have made millions. The Times report follows recent crticism by the legal services ombudsman that sick miners who complained about solicitors taking a slice of money from their compensation awards were “badly let down” by the Law Society (full report)
Charles Clarke the Home Secretary has announced his support for a number of policy initiatives which will enrage justice campaigners, civil liberertarians and FACT members these include:
-
replacing Britain’s adversarial system with an inquisitorial legal system (similar to the France's).
See Times Report
-
restricting the Court of Appeal's ability to make fewer decisions on 'technicalities' and introducting a Not Proven verdict.
See Times Report
- reducing the spending on compensation paid to those wrongly convicted of crimes in England and Wales by £5m a year.
See BBC Report (1), (2), (3), (4) and Home Office Press Release
SAFARI
Posted by News Editor
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
In this issue:
-
Fife Police under investigation;
-
A reminder about Terry McCarthy's Parole Board report for the innocent (note: this can be downloaded from the
SAFARI web site);
-
Dr Shan Biswas - information wanted;
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anonymity for the accused;
-
David Murphy & Patrick O'Toole have their convictions overturned in connection with corrupt conduct by the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad (disbanded 1989)
Our attention has been drawn to the new edition of the Church of England's Child Protection Policy Protecting All Gods Children
Whilst the policy provides a helpful statement of the Church of England's position in relation to child protection and contains some useful advice it also silent on some important matters. This includes the reality that some people are falsely accused of child abuse and may therefore need extra pastoral support.
The document starts off with a theological approach which assert that every human being has value and dignity which comes from God's creation and that they have a duty to value people and protect them for harm. It is completely silent on the matter of God command not to bear false witness.
The document from the Church of England [Ref 1, p46 (PDF51), Sec P3.4] that it asks applicants for posts involving working with children if they have ever had their children placed on the Register of Children at Risk. This comes embedded in a list of other questions, such as convictions, cautions, and allegations, or being under investigation. It goes on to say that the information supplied, including the register question, will be checked with the authorities.
The implication is that the C of E considers the initial child protection conference to be comparable to a court of law regarding the validity of allegations. Nothing could be further from the truth. Also the C of E seem to consider the CPC to be judging findings of fact resulting from careful investigation and testing of evidence. Finally it seems to assume that the parents are the ones considered to be suspected of abuse. In many instances this will not be the case. All this is totally misguided particularly as the process requires one to breach an undertaking of confidentiality.
To put it hypothetically, if some one applied for job as a crèche assistant at my local church, they would be asked to declare if any of their children had been on the at-risk register. In some instances a honest explanation might be such information is "confidential" and cannot be disclosed, which might be negatively impacting on their job prospects. However, if the person chose to violate their obligation to confidentiality, then they might have to state, accurately, that the reason for being on the register was not a result of any act of commission or omission on their part, as they were not a suspect.
This sloppy approach is all too common throughout the document and diminishes its value. What we are seeing is the erosion of legal and civil liberties and a worrying trend for the Church of England to uncritically accept that child protection investigators are in infallible.
According to an article in the Charlotte Obcerver [USA] about 10 percent of U.S. schoolchildren in grades eight to 11 reported that they had been the target of unwanted sexual misconduct by an educator. The article quotes a 2000 report compiled for the U.S. Department of Education (more)
Our attention has been drawn to a recent article by Professor Tim David which was originally published in 'Archives of Disease in Childhood' which offers guidance to medical experts when writing medical reports.
The article will be of interest to lawyers and all professionals involved in cases of suspected child abuse. It will also provides a useful checklist or benchmark for those people who have been the subject of a report by a medical expert in medical case involving alleged child abuse.
The report begins:
All paediatricians, paediatric radiologists, paediatric pathologists, forensic pathologists, and many other specialists have to deal with cases of suspected child abuse, and in terms of the generation of complaints from families this is a high risk activity. Many complaints are devoid of merit, but in some cases a complaint is justified because of a faulty approach. This review draws attention to the avoidable pitfalls associated with report writing when child abuse is under consideration (more)
A woman from the Liverpool area is to face trial by jury after being accused of making a false allegation of rape.
Melinda Lawrence, 32, is charged with perverting the course of justice in February last year when she made the complaint to police. It is said that she made a false allegation of rape against William Rossi at the police station in Wootton Bassett on Friday, February 18.
Lawrence, of Egerton Park, Birkenhead, pleaded not guilty to the charge when she appeared before a judge at Swindon Crown Court. The case was adjourned to Tuesday July 18 when it is set down for a two to three-day trial before judge and jury.
Lawrence was released on unconditional bail to attend for her trial.
According to an article on Get Reading that a staggering 40 per cent of robberies reported to police in Reading did not actually happen.
DC Natalie Hall said two-fifths of so-called victims of muggings are lying to police about being robbed to get a crime number to make false insurance claims. They are also using the official records to obtain crisis loans from benefit agencies. The detective from Reading’s Street Crime Team, said officers were sick and tired of wasting manpower on investigating phoney claims.
She listed three recent cases where 15 officers spent a total of 25 hours looking into robberies that simply did not happen. All three men were cautioned after admitting they lied to police about having jewellery, cash and a mobile phone taken. She said: “Fifteen officers were involved in investigating these three reports and a conservative estimate would be that 25 hours of police time were wasted by the offenders.
“I would also say that in a typical month, 40 per cent of robberies reported to us tend to be false and that situation is showing no signs of improving. “But our patience is now running thin and the next person to falsely report a robbery may find themselves charged and facing court.”
Police have been working closely with benefit agencies to uncover the false claims from genuine victims of crime.
DC Hall added: “It is an offence to make a false allegation of robbery and people should remember that before contacting police they may end up being investigated themselves.
“Robbery is a distressing and often violent crime.
“We do not want to deter genuine victims – just people who think it is okay to waste our time making false claims.”
Anyone who knows of someone who has pretended to be a victim of crime can call 08458 505 505 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
According to Florida Atlantic University Police some 3 to 8 percent of sexual assault reports turn out to be false, lower than false reports of other crimes, such as arson or burglaries. The percentage comes from police experts who after reviewing investigative reports find evidence that the allegation is false.
Source
According to Paul Stuckle an American Attorney "the USA prisons are full of innocent persons”
Public hysteria regarding child molestation has changed the rules of the criminal justice system. Child physical and sexual abuse cases must be defended in an entirely different manner than the normal criminal case. In theory the constitutional rights of the defendant are still in place, however in reality those rights do not apply. The truth is: The accused is presumed to be guilty.
There is merely an appearance of constitutional rights for the accused in a child abuse case. The judge will still inform the jury that it must presume the defendant to be innocent and require the state to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. However in reality, once a false allegation is made, the defendant must both prove himself innocent and that something “did not happen”.
Our criminal justice system states that if the jury has a “reasonable doubt” then it must find the defendant “not guilty”. This theory simply does not apply to child sexual assault cases. The jury must be convinced they are not letting a child molester off and back into the community. The jury must absolutely believe in the innocence of the defendant. The state does not have to prove guilt, but simply make the accusation. Once the accusation is made, the defendant must prove innocence beyond a reasonable doubt. Failing that, the jury will not take a chance the defendant may be a child molester, and will convict.
How Did We Come To This?
(more)
This is long but useful article which will strong echoes for people in the UK falsely accused of sexual abuse.
Man cleared of rape but still devastated
A HODDESDON worker cleared of raping a female colleague has been reduced to a "shell of a man", his defence solicitor said Andrew Harknett, 41, had spent the past 14 months falsely accused of committing a sex attack on a women he had been teaching to use a lifting truck at a Sainsbury's depot in Pindar Road.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, made the allegation after discovering her husband had listened to her involved in sexual activity for 19 minutes when he received a call on his mobile from her phone.
She alleged that, following a training session given by Mr Harknett on January 5 last year, she had gone into an upstairs office where he raped her. She phoned her husband because she feared she was going to be assaulted.
The woman claimed her neck and breasts were bitten and she was forced to perform a sex act, although the court was told no cries of "help" or "rape" were heard on the phone.
But at St Albans Crown Court, all charges against Mr Harknett, from Harlow in Essex, were thrown out after the court heard how the alleged victim had "actively pursued" him.
Although Sainsbury's had launched an investigation and exonerated Mr Harknett of any involvement, Herts police opened an investigation and the Crown Prosecution Service decided to charge him with raping and sexually assaulting the woman on January 5 last year.
But in court, Judge Seddon Cripps agreed with the defence team that there has been an "abuse of process" in bringing Mr Harknett to trial.
The judge told Mr Harknett: "I appreciate what you have been through in this last year.
"On what I have seen and read, I have no doubt you were innocent in every sense of the word. You leave without a stain on your character - and I mean that."
Defence barrister Jason Reed told the judge that Mr Harknett had suffered considerably as a result of the accusations. Arguing the case was an "abuse of process", Mr Reed said the woman had actively pursued Mr Harknett - making 97 calls from her mobile phone to Mr Harknett between October and the time of the alleged rape.
According to the Weston and Somerset Mercury a muslim mother who accused a fee-paying school of racial abuse has lost her claim for damages.
Pakistan-born Aliya Smethurst, aged 37, alleged her son Mikhail suffered racial abuse as a six-year-old pupil at St Christopher's School in Burnham.
She also claimed she suffered ill-treatment on the grounds of her race while she worked at the school as a boarding house matron.
Mrs Smethurst was seeking damages from the school, which has been closed for some time, and its head teacher, Diane Symes, for racial discrimination, negligence regarding bullying, personal injury and assault on Mikhail, now aged 11.
She claimed her son was called 'mud face' because of his colour and was regularly kicked, punched and spat at by fellow pupils, leaving him bruised and lacking in confidence.
In a judgement handed down on Monday, Judge Charles Wade ruled against Mrs Smethurst in her claims against the school and Mrs Symes.
Mrs Smethurst was not at this week's hearing in Swindon County Court.
At an earlier hearing, Paul Gilroy, for the school, said Mrs Smethurst had been 'principally motivated by bad faith' and cited expert psychiatric evidence which said Mrs Smethurst was 'exceptionally paranoid'.
Mrs Smethurst, her husb