Camilla Cavendish has written another excellent article (29th March 2007) in the Times about secrecy in Family Courts and the impact expert witnesses can have when on occasions they get it wrong.
Full article
A teenage girl has been warned by a judge she faces being locked up after she admitted falsely claiming she had been raped by a Bradford taxi driver.
The 17-year-old Shipley girl admitted an accusation of perverting the course of justice when she appeared at Bingley Youth Court.
Adjourning sentence until next month for reports, District Judge David Thomas told the girl, whose identity is protected by law, that he was considering a custodial sentence.
He refused a legal application by the Telegraph & Argus to be allowed to name the girl.
Speaking after yesterday's short court hearing, the taxi driver involved, Aftab Ahmed, said the girl's claims made in January last year had "destroyed" his life.
Mr Ahmed, 44, of Wimborne Drive, Allerton, said: "I am happy that she pleaded guilty eventually but she has wasted so much time. She should have done it sooner. She has wasted the police's time and people's money and I am still living with the trauma.
"She destroyed my life. Even now I don't know if I can move on - it depends on how people's behaviour changes. People still talk."
Mr Ahmed, who is married with 11-year-old twin daughters, said he had spent 15 hours in police custody when he was arrested following the girl's allegations and endured questioning and forensic examinations.
He was told by police last April that no charges would be brought against him but he said his ordeal had changed him.
"I was petrified because I did not do anything wrong and now I have lost my trust in everyone," said Mr Ahmed.
"I used to play with my children outside in the driveway. I don't do that now; I don't take them to the park. I just go to work and come home. Their lives have been shattered."
Mr Ahmed praised the support his wife had given him. He said: "My wife never doubted me and she kept the family together because I couldn't think about anything apart from the allegation.
"Taxi drivers get blamed for a lot. We pick up drunk people who treat us like animals but we still give them respect and we drop them home safely. We need to be treated like human beings."
Speaking after the hearing Detective Constable Mark Wycherley said: "We investigate all allegations of rape and when they are found to be false we take the appropriate action. If you wanted someone to take your daughter home you would want Mr Ahmed to be that person."
A foundation has been launched by parents wrongly convicted of harming their babies, to help others who face the same nightmare.
Angela Cannings was jailed for 18 months after being falsely convicted for killing her two children and her name has been lent to the foundation, launched by the Justice for Families lobby group.
Mrs Cannings, originally from Wiltshire said: "We've been through the system, we know what's it's like to be in the system, to be vilified for something you haven't done. There's no support for you inside or outside".
The foundation will provide financial support for families without the economic means to appeal against their sentences, as well as giving them emotional backing.
There was a minute's silence for Sally Clark, who died earlier this month of unknown causes, having been cleared by the Court of Appeal in 2003 of killing her two sons and spending three years in prison.
Ian and Angela Gay from Worcestershire, who were cleared of poisoning a three-year-old boy they hoped to adopt were among other falsely convicted parents at today's launch.
Mr Gay called for changes in the law in the way expert advice was given in a trial. He said: "It's happened to us, it's happening to other people, there are people out there we don't know about, people go to court in the family courts and it's hidden."
Acknowledgement: ITV News
Dozens of people attended F.A.C.T. vigils at key locations throughout the UK. Two vigils were held in London, one in Liverpool, one in Birmingham, and one outside Wakefield prison. One was also held in Scotland, and several in Wales including one outside the Welsh Assembly.
The aim of this years vigil was not only to draw attention to the plight of falsely accused carers and teachers many of whom have been wrongly imprisoned, but also to draw attention to the impact false allegations of child abuse have on families and in particular on their children. Such children not only have suffer the loss of their fathers as a result of their wrongful imprisonment, but also the devastating effect imprisonment has on family life, and on innocent children - many of whom are bullied or suffer social isolation as a result.
A F.A.C.T. spokesman said “this is the first time we have held simultaneous vigils throughout the UK and the response hasbeen very encouraging. We are very grateful to all those who took part”.
The Editorial Standards Committee of the BBC have published their findings (here) in respect of 5 complaints made by a former resident of Quarriers Children's Home concerning a programme broadcast on BBC One, Frontline Scotland, on 1st April 2003
This programme concerned the case of John Porteous who had previously been convicted of offences relating to his employment at a Quarrier's childrens' home in the 1960s and 1970s.
The programme examined “whether some of the children he cared for made up false allegations against him in order to claim compensation and asked whether historical child abuse cases leave anyone who has ever worked with children open to accusations”.
The Editorial Standards Committee upheld two complaints. The first was that the former resident had not been given an adequate right of reply when it was suggested that Mr Porteous was wrongly convicted. The second related to the BBC's failure to ensure accuracy and impartiality in their reporting.
Three complaints were not upheld
Lobbying News
Posted by News Editor
Friday, March 23, 2007
A call by F.A.C.T. women members for the impact of false allegations of child abuse on women and their families to be given more attention has resulted in F.A.C.T. planning a national Awareness Day on Tuesday 27th March. This will involve vigils taking place in various locations in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland as well as in Australia.
We are grateful to all those people who have declared their support for this initiative.
Not to be confused with the above there will also be a parliamentary lobby for parents who have been victims of miscarriages of justice and inappropriate prosecutions are planning a lobby of MPs on Wednesday 28th Match at the Houses of Parliament. This lobby has been arranged by John Hemming MP Chairman for Justice for Families and will be attended by Bill Bache, the legal advisor.
Ian and Angela Gay, Angela Cannings and Marianne Williams have agreed to come to jointly lobby MPs on 28th March to call for changes in procedure and an end to false prosecutions of parents.
Bill Bache, the legal advisor, said, "If a Doctor does not know why a child has died then they should say that. They should not point the finger at parents merely because the cause of death is unclear."
John Hemming MP said, "There is a systematic problem in the operation of justice in both the criminal and family courts. The whole system needs an overhaul."
Note:
Ian and Angela Gay were recently acquitted in a retrial where they were alleged to have poisoned their adopted son with salt and also shaken him.
Angela Cannings was released after being falsely imprisoned for the death of two of her children who died from SIDS.
Marianne Williams was acquitted in late 2006 when the doctor treating her son who died blamed her for poisoning him with salt.
A woman who accused an innocent man of rape, causing him to be arrested and charged, has been jailed for 18 months.
Davydaitis, described by prosecutor Christopher Amor as a "self-centred attention seeker", even picked out Mr Young at an identity parade as the man who had raped her while she was taking her dog for a walk on 16 July, 2004.
When police arrested Mr Young he was recovering from a broken back he had suffered in a fall. His spine had been broken in eight places and he was wearing a body brace.
Despite his protestations that it would have been impossible for him to have raped her, the Crown Prosecution Service decided he should be charged with rape.
After Mr Young's name appeared in the local papers he received hate mail, stones were thrown at his windows and he was attacked in the street and suffered a broken arm.
His ex-wife even stopped him seeing his two young children.
Davydaitis finally withdrew her statement on 22 March 2005 after her friend told police how she had confided in her about making up the rape allegation.
Handing down sentence Judge Barbara Mensah told Davydaitis: "This was a particularly nasty, calculated and malicious lie which persisted over time."
Outside court Mr Young of Lansdowne Road, Bedford, said: "This woman has ruined my life with her lies. I could have gone to prison for years because of her. I can never forgive her for what she did to me
Acknowledgement BBC
A group of women who made alegations of sexual assault whilst resident at a Coventry Children's home launching a £1 million lawsuit against the city council.
The 12 women, now in their early forties, claim the council was negligent in its duty of care to them.Two were raped and the others indecently assaulted by the manager of the home, Kevin Donaldson, who is serving 15 years for his crimes. They are to sue the council for up to £75,000 each. If they are successful and awarded costs the bill will sky-rocket to more than £1million.
The nub of their case is that the council should have been aware of Donaldson's conduct and acted upon it because complaints had been made against him.
Daphne Young, now living in Cambridge, is one of the women seeking damages for abuse at Newfield House, the former children's home in Kingfield Road, Foleshill. She has waived her right to anonymity to highlight the issues raised. Last July, Ms Young, aged 42, was one of six witnesses in the trial against Donaldson. She told a jury how she was indecently assaulted at the age of 14, while another witness, who grew up in Bell Green, Coventry, told how she was raped.
A jury found Donaldson, aged 62, guilty of two rapes and nine counts of indecent assault when he worked at the home between 1977 and 1982. Newfield House closed as a children's home shortly after he left.
He was cleared of two other charges of rape, three indecent assaults and one count of gross indecency and is waiting to hear whether he has permission to appeal against his sentence.
Acknowledgement: IC Coventry
According to an article in The Telegraph by Graeme Paton, Education Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, Boris Johnson, the Tory higher education spokesman said men are being driven out of the teaching profession because of "paedophile hysteria",
Men are being driven out of the teaching profession because of "paedophile hysteria", said yesterday.
Gifted men were put off jobs in primary schools for fear of being wrongly accused of assaulting young children, he said. And the lack of male teachers at primary level was "potentially very damaging" to boys' education.
They needed more male role models at an early age but female primary teachers now outnumbered men by 13 to one. "We do have a kind of paedophile hysteria" he told the Independent Schools Council.
"A lot of potential brilliant male teachers think 'do I want to go through that malarkey about what I can and can't do? What happens if I bump into someone?' Young minds need the intellectual inspiration of a male teacher - not because males are any better than females but it may help if there is a male role model who can help with their intellectual development."
Acknowledgement: Daily Telegraph
Did you notice that Peter Garsden was chosen as Lawyer of the Wekk in the Times Law Section (here) and that he stated that his worse day as a lawyer was .....
being cross-examined by a sitting of the Home Affairs Select Committee into alleged false allegations in child abuse cases for two and a half hours in 2002. I thought my professional opinion would be sought on ways to improve the law. Rather, the committee was more interested in attempting to impugn my credibility in a wholly unexpected way. It reminded me of the Court of Star Chamber ...
There can be very little doubt that Mr Garsden provides an excellent service for those who truly have been abused in the past. Our concern ios that he seems very unwilling to accept that that many complainents make exxageratyed and indeed false claims about their time in care.
According to a report on the BBC
A convicted criminal has won a legal challenge after he claimed a recorded message on phone calls from prison breached his human rights.
Stewart Potter, 43, from Glasgow, is serving a 21-year sentence for assault and robbery.
He claimed the recorded message was "an unnecessary and embarrassing reminder" of where he was phoning from.
A judge at the Court of Session ruled the system was unlawful under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Phone calls made out of prison carry a pre-recorded message that the call is coming from a jail.
Judge Lord Glennie said this policy was not made with the authority of parliament.
He said: "In some societies, it might be regarded as obvious that a person convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to a period of imprisonment should, for the duration of his imprisonment, be deprived of his civil rights.
"Such a notion has no place in our society." said the judge.
Potter has been serving his sentence in HMP Glenochil, Clackmannanshire.
He was jailed for assault and stealing money from a wine shop in the west end of Glasgow in 2001.
The manageress told the High Court in Glasgow that Potter had foamed at the mouth "like a mad dog" as he held a knife to her throat.
Potter challenged the legality of the Scottish Prison Service policy after obtaining legal aid.
Aidan O'Neill QC, for Potter, argued that there was no justification for a blanket policy on phone calls.
He said measures were in place, including pre-approval of phone numbers, which meant a prisoner could not make calls to victims or others who did not want to receive his calls.
Lord Glennie said: "It is accepted that the message constitutes interference with the prisoner's right to respect for family life and correspondence."
The judge pointed out examples given in Potter's legal challenge.
He said that if Potter telephoned his children's school, the message would be heard by whoever picked up the telephone.
When Potter telephones home, the message tells his family and particularly his children of the fact that he is prison.
The Scottish Prison Service said the message was meant to stop "grooming", prevent former victims of crime being contacted and halt calls to people who had previously been harassed.
Lord Glennie said that given the safeguards were in place he could see no justification for a blanket policy of pre-recorded messages.
"If, despite these safeguards, there is perceived to be a risk in a particular case, some form of message, pre-recorded or otherwise, could be attached on a case by case basis," he added.
William Higham, head of policy at the Prison Reform Trust, said: "A recorded message preceding all phone calls from a prison is a very blunt instrument indeed for guarding against potential nuisance calls.
"Prison is already far too brutally effective at breaking up families and social ties, such a 'scarlet letter' approach to a vital communication lifeline is unnecessary and harmful.
"The judge is quite right to say that the punishment of prison is loss of liberty and not the destruction of family life."
However, political parties criticised the ruling.
Kenny MacAskill, the SNP's justice spokesman, said: "This is utterly outrageous - people who breach the law must pay the price.
"Hardworking taxpayers' money is being used to fund these legal aid cases.
"Money which could be going to help vulnerable people in need of legal representation. A line needs to be drawn and it needs to be drawn now."
Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie said: "Back in February when we first heard about this, I warned that we would be a laughing stock if this man won his case.
"There is a clear issue here - are the rights of the law-abiding majority being served ahead of the rights of a minority who happen to be in jail? It appears not.
"Prisoners forfeit a number of rights when they go to jail for their crimes, which should include the ability to dictate on what terms they make a phone call."
A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said: "We are aware of the decision and are considering it carefully."
Detective Inspector David Murphy, from Thorpe Wood police station, said: “I will warn again that false allegations waste public money, and those who make them will be charged and brought before the courts. If convicted, the maximum penalty is six months in jail and/or a fine of up to £2,500.”
He added Operation Outrage had been a success, but time-wasters were hindering other investigations. He said: “Officers are successfully investigating and detaining offenders for genuine robberies and thefts in the city, and anyone who fabricates an allegation is directly disrupting work on other, genuine, crimes.”
However, Insp Murphy added: “This should not deter genuine victims from coming forward and reporting crimes which have taken place.”
F.A.C.T. members will be saddened to read news that Sally Clarke was found dead in bed. Sally's fight against justice echoes many of the experinces F.A.C.T. members have had - a presumption of guilt, a failure of the investigating agencies to suspend disbelief, flawed science, witholding of information which would point to her innocence, a judicial system that failed her at every stage.
Sally's story is also a story of heart rendering sadness and of courage. Like many F.A.C.T. members she has had the unfailing support of her husband, and wider family and all those who knew her.
For more details see reports in the:-
The following article appeared in the Perthshire Advertiser on 16th March (
here)
BACKGROUND reports have been ordered on a Strathearn teenager who repeatedly sent text messages to another male, offering him money for sex.
Scott David Bell (18), of Gentlecroft, Braco, will have to appear personally for sentence at Perth Sheriff Court on April 4. In the meantime, he has been advised to seek legal advice.
He admitted by letter that between January 6 and 18 this year, at places unknown, he sent the text messages which were grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character.
As well as offering money for sex, Bell claimed in the messages that the Rattray male had sex with him and he threatened to report a false allegation of rape on him by the other male to the police.
Social inquiry and community service reports have been requested on the general assistant.
South Yorkshire Police - Press Release 15th March 2007
Police have arrested a 23-year-old man on suspicion of perverting the course of justice, following the alleged false allegation of an abduction in March 2007.
The 23-year-old man remains in custody and is currently being questioned by police.
Police would like to take this opportunity to stress that any possibility of false reporting will be taken seriously and will be fully investigated.
An Ontario woman wrongfully put behind bars for her daughter's death has won the right to sue a pathologist who performed a flawed autopsy.
In a landmark decision expected to open the doors for others falsely accused, a three-judge Ontario Court of Appeal panel decided Wednesday to allow Louise Reynolds to move forward with her lawsuit against former Toronto pathologist Dr. Charles Smith.
The Kingston woman was mistakenly charged with murder and spent two years in jail after Smith concluded from an autopsy that Reynolds's seven-year-old daughter had been stabbed to death. An autopsy by other pathologists later determined the girl had been mauled by a pit bull.
Reynolds was earlier denied the right to sue Smith because of a 2005 ruling by Ontario's Divisional Court that experts cannot be sued for giving professional opinions in court cases.
Reynolds' lawyer argued the witness protection rule should not cover a pathologist's investigation which should be seen as separate from testimony.
Trio must pay for prison 'board' Vincent and Michael Hickey spent 18 years in prison Three men who spent years in jail after being wrongly convicted of murder will have to pay for their prison board and lodgings, Law Lords have ruled.
Brothers Vincent and Michael Hickey of Birmingham, spent 18 years in jail for paperboy Carl Bridgewater's murder.
Michael O'Brien from Cardiff spent 11 years in jail for a separate murder.
The three were deducted money from their compensation for what lawyers called "living expenses" but what the court agreed was for life necessities.
Judges ruled by a four to one majority that they must pay back 25% of their compensation.
The three men had appealed against an earlier Court of Appeal ruling the Independent Assessor was entitled to deduct their compensation to reflect the necessities of life which they would have to buy from wages if they were free.
Their lawyers had argued it was wrong to expect people wrongly imprisoned to pay for what is effectively their "board and lodgings".
Mr O'Brien was awarded £670,000 for his 10 years in jail
Vincent Hickey, 49, and Michael Hickey, 42, of Birmingham, were jailed in 1979 over Carl's murder at Yew Tree Farm, near Stourbridge.
They had their convictions quashed at the Court of Appeal in 1997.
Michael Hickey was awarded £990,000 in compensation and Vincent Hickey £506,220, subject to the deductions.
Michael O'Brien spent 11 years in prison after being wrongly convicted in 1988 of the murder of a Cardiff newsagent.
He was awarded £670,000 subject to similar deductions.
A similar story appears the Independent
The following article by Jane Last appeared in the Evening Herald on the 10th March.
A mother who falsely alleged her eight-year-old daughter was raped by a teenage neighbour has been sentenced to 11 months in prison.
The woman from Co Offaly made a complaint that her then eight-year-old daughter had been taken into a wooded area and then raped by a 14-year-old neighbour. The court heard the woman made the complaint on foot of a row with the teenage boy's family.
Judge John Neilan said the defendant's allegation was outrageous and completely inexplicable, after she appeared before a District Court.
"It seems the reason behind this is that you had an argument with a neighbour and this was your vindictive mechanism to get your own back".
Judge Neilan said he was adjourning the woman's prison sentence until June 11 to allow the HSE to carry out a Section 20 report to determine whether the defendant, who is now three months pregnant, was fit to care for her school-going children.
Judge Neilan also requested the Probation Service to prepare a report and also asked gardai to inquire as to whether the teenage boy falsely accused of rape wished to make a Victim Impact Statement.
Garda O'Leary gave evidence of how he was called to the defendant's home on a date last year when she reported that a local youth had brought her young daughter to a wooded area and removed her clothing. She then made a complaint of rape.
Upon making further enquiries, gardai learned that the complaint was false.
Solicitor Brian O'Sullivan said his client acknowledged within 24 hours of making the complaint that it was false.
Mr O'Sullivan said the matter came to an end within 48 hours and there have been no further developments between the defendant and the victim's family.
He added that what