High Rate of False Accusations and Repercussions

When you consider the word rape, you automatically think of a sick twisted man, who visits violence, fear and violation upon a hapless victim. What happens when the man is wrongly convicted? Following this introduction is a true account of one such story.

The names have been changed due to a connection within my family.

Paul was eighteen, Ellen was fifteen and they met in a bar in Manchester at 2 in the morning. It was lust at first sight. They spent several weekends meeting in the town centre, always ending up at his flat. The relationship then moved onto a full time basis.

She had even posed for some naughty pics, and sent them to his mobile phone.

Ellen always maintained that she was eighteen too, and Paul had no reason to doubt her. Things were going well, but Paul could never understand why she wouldn’t stay at his flat during the week. Ellen was introduced to his family and everything seemed fine.

His mother thought they were very good together. Paul never got to meet her family, she always made excuses.

Paul worked as an electrician, and his company took a job refitting a sports hall, within a local high school. He was on top of a scaffold when he happened to notice a girl who had been introduced as a friend of Ellen. She was in school uniform.

Paul went to speak with his parents, and they decided it would be better to confront Ellen, and to establish wether she was still in high school.

Ellen denied the allegation and explained that she used to babysit this girl in the past. She explained that things were not as they seemed, and Paul was being paranoid.

Again Paul spoke with his parents. They asked him did she give any indications that she was lying about her age. He said he had no clues to her age, apart from what she had told him. His parents advised him to break up with her, to be on the safe side.

He thought about this for a few days, then decided he needed to know the truth.

After dropping her off one Saturday morning and instead of driving away, he followed her home. He noted down which house she lived at, and intended on calling later that day.

As fate would have it he was called into work and never got to visit Ellens home address.

The couple had their normal Saturday night, and Paul dropped her off on Sunday afternoon.

Monday came, and during his working day Paul found himself near Ellens home. He was in a company van, and he parked a few doors down. After getting no response at the front door, he waited in the van. Around 3.45pm a small blond woman with a young child entered the house.

Paul knocked on the door again. An older version of Ellen answered the door, and when he asked to speak to Ellen, she was visibly suspicious. He explained that he was her boyfriend, and he had quite a pleasant chat with the woman. She reassured him she would tell Ellen, when she returned, and could he call back around 5.30. Paul agreed then he left. He felt much better now, the woman hadn’t said she was in school, and had even told him what time to call.

Paul finished work, went home and got changed and went to Ellens.

He was invited in straight away, and directed into a dining room. Four young men were waiting for him. The list of injuries he sustained was quite extensive. Broken ribs, punctured lung, broken leg and multiple cuts and bruises. After they had finished the Police were called.

He was arrested for under age sex, possessing indecent images of a minor and three counts of rape.

He was placed on remand and nine months later was found guilty and sentenced to seven years imprisonment. On release he would have to sign the sex offenders register for life.

He hd been named and shamed in front of his friends and family. The only two people who stood by him were his parents. They always maintained his innocence.

He was placed in Strangeways Prison, and had to share a cell with a child sex offender, one who liked to talk about his exploits. His time in prison was not at all easy. He was beaten up several times.

Now you might think he got what he deserved. He was indeed involved, sexually with a fifteen year old girl, he did possess naughty photo’s of her. But you must remember they met in a club. She stayed at his flat every weekend for months. She was a well liked character in the town centre. He hd no idea that she was fifteen. This didn’t make any difference to the court.

Ellen claimed he had met her one Saturday afternoon, plied her with alcohol then raped her. She went on to say he had forced her t stay overnight, where he raped her again twice. Ellen told everyone that he had then made her pose for the photographs, and then used them as blackmail for months. She told everyone that she was terrified of him, and that he was a danger to all women.

The court believed every word she said, he went to jail.

During the second year of his confinement, Paul received a letter.

Ellen explained how she felt guilty. She knew what she had done was wrong, and she was asking Paul for his forgiveness. The letter went on to list how she had manipulated her parents. How she had been too scared to tell them that her boyfriend was eighteen. Her parents thought she was staying at her friends each weekend. How she had been forced to watch as Paul was beaten by her four cousins, how it had been so traumatic for her.

Paul Showed the letter to a prison warden. Within an hour he was moved to the hospital wing, and a solicitor was appointed for him. It took four days to overturn his conviction.

Nine moths to take away his life, and 4 days to let him back out.

He was released from prison with a full pardon. This doesn’t mean he officially never did the crime, it means he is forgiven for them.

Ellen was sentenced 5 years in prison. False accusations, perjury, perverting the course of justice, wasting police time you name it, they hit her with it. As she was only seventeen at the time, she was placed in a Young Offenders Institute. She is there still.

Paul and his parents moved to another part of the country. Paul still has a criminal record, only it says he has a pardon on the bottom. This detail is still being challenged through the courts. The last time i heard of Paul, he had successfully claimed compensation from the Crown Prosecution Service, and emigrated to New Zealand, with his parents.

The whole sorry tale was because of the selfish actions of one very bitter fifteen year old girl. When she was confronted about her private life, she lied and twisted things to make herself look like a victim. She knowingly made the situation look much worse than it was, and watched as a man was sent to prison for crimes he did not commit.

How many times has this kind of mistake happened?, alternatively how many times has a rapist got away with it.

The problem here was that they had been having sex, they had spent nights together and she had indeed posed for his mobile phone.

The first thing that entered my mind, was how a fifteen year old girl got into a club in the first place. Why did her parents not check out where she was supposed to be staying?

Oh by the way, Ellen was a distant friend of my family.