Isaac Itiary: UK: 'Times' story shows that the Liam Allan case - subject of another 'Times' story featured in a previous post - is "not an isolated example of over-zealous rape investigations intended to compensate "for well-documented historical failures to investigate the crime."..."Today the Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association reiterated criticism from senior lawyers that the collapsed prosecutions reveal the “tip of the iceberg”. Bill Waddington, the association’s chairman, said: “Fair disclosure of evidence is essential to a fair trial, whether that be evidence suggesting an accused’s guilt, or evidence as in this case which shows a prosecution witness is being untruthful and supports the defence case. Sadly failures such as this are only too common.”In a recent survey by the association 98 per cent of those who responded reported serious disclosure failures, with 90 per cent describing the it as “commonplace”. Almost three quarters said ee quarters said they “very often” had problems with disclosure by the time a case had reached trial. Angela Rafferty, QC, chairwoman of the Criminal Bar Association, suggested that “unconscious bias” stops the police and the CPS “impartially and thoroughly investigating and scrutinising complaints in sexual offence cases." "It should be remembered that it is not the job of the police or CPS to judge the truthfulness or otherwise of any allegation made,” she said. “The deluge of sexual allegations in the system is well known. If the criminal justice system is to cope and cope properly then funding must be found to ensure that there are proper investigations, a proper filtering system for cases that have no merit and a proper approach by the police and CPS to disclosure issues.” She pointed to a joint report of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate published in July highlighting “severe shortcomings” in the ability of police and the CPS to deal with the disclosure regime. Stephen Wooler, chief inspector of the CPS between 2000 and 2010, said police and prosecutors face a “conundrum” of needing to develop an affordable system that reliably identifies information that might assist the defence."
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: A recent post of this Blog (December 20, 2017) at the link below, begins as follows: "Liam Allan. UK:
Sexual assault investigations: 'The Times' relays an important message
to police and prosecutors: Don't act over-zealously in the matter of
rape violations to compensate for well-documented historical failures to
investigate the crime..."Criminologists estimate that five out of six
rapes still go unreported. If only 7.5 per cent of the reported rapes
result in a conviction, that means that for every 1,000 rapes, a paltry
13 rapists receive punishment and a pathetic 13 victims receive justice.
Combating this travesty requires the CPS and police to do more than
merely throw mud to see what might stick. They must redouble their
efforts to collect and preserve the evidence and follow that.
Suppressing it is inimical to justice."The Liam Allan case is clearly not an isolated example of over-zealous rape investigations intended to compensate "for well-documented historical failures to investigate the crime." As a new article in The Times, published just 24-hours later shows, another rape prosecution has collapsed after it was disclosed that police withheld key evidence for four months. The heading for this article: "Met police to review all live rape cases as second trial collapses." Over the past year I have expressed concerns over a police witness questioning technique known as 'Forensic Experiential Trauma Interviews' which, thus far, does not appear to have an acceptable, established, verifiable scientific basis. I have been motivated by a concern that police officers will use this unproven technique to obtain convictions in a bid to counter public and political criticism. We must be on guard to prevent corrupt investigations - such as the British cases - from occurring in North America and elsewhere. Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog. -----------------------------------------------------------
STORY: "Met police to review all live rape cases as second trial collapses," by reporters David Brown, (Chief News Correspondent), Fiona Hamilton and George Sandeman, publshed by The Times on December 20, 2017.
SUB-HEADING: "Officers withheld key evidence for four months."
PHOTO CAPTION: "Nigel Evans, who was cleared in 2014 of raping a student, said police were “cherry-picking” evidence to get prosecutions."
PHOTO CAPTION: "Rape
and abuse charges against Isaac Itiary were dropped yesterday when it
emerged that police failed to disclose evidence that his accuser had
lied about her age."
PHOTO CAPTION: "Liam
Allan, 22, spent almost two years on bail and was on trial for a series
of alleged rapes before police handed over text messages that
exonerated him."
GIST: "An MP who was cleared of rape has called for a nationwide review of the police disclosure of evidence in sexual abuse investigations. Nigel
Evans said evidence was being cherry-picked in “too many cases” after
Britain’s biggest police force ordered a review of all current rape and
sexual abuse cases yesterday. The Tory MP, who was cleared in 2014 of
raping a student, called for the review to be expanded after a second
rape case collapsed within a week. He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “It
seems to be in too many cases that police are cherry-picking the
evidence that is there in order to get a prosecution. That is not what
the justice system is about; it should follow the evidence. Because of
the failures in the system . . . quite frankly, lives have been ruined.” Charges against Isaac Itiary, 25, of rape and sexual activity with a child were dropped yesterday after text messages from the alleged victim
showed she lied about her age. The trial of Liam Allan, 22, collapsed
last week after messages from the woman who accused him of rape showed
she had lied. Mr Evans called for a “proper review” of cases by police
forces across the country, not just the Metropolitan Police, which
investigated Mr Itiary and Mr Allan. The former deputy
speaker has previously spoken of his “11 months of hell” after he was
cleared of raping a university student and sexually assaulting six other
men over a 10-year period. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is
reviewing its decision not to charge Mr Evans for a separate allegation
of sexual assault made by a civil servant under the victims’ right to
review scheme.Today
the Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association reiterated criticism from
senior lawyers that the collapsed prosecutions reveal the “tip of the
iceberg”. Bill Waddington, the association’s chairman, said: “Fair
disclosure of evidence is essential to a fair trial, whether that be
evidence suggesting an accused’s guilt, or evidence as in this case
which shows a prosecution witness is being untruthful and supports the
defence case. Sadly failures such as this are only too common.”In
a recent survey by the association 98 per cent of those who responded
reported serious disclosure failures, with 90 per cent describing the it
as “commonplace”. Almost three quarters said they “very often” had
problems with disclosure by the time a case had reached trial. Angela
Rafferty, QC, chairwoman of the Criminal Bar Association, suggested
that “unconscious bias” stops the police and the CPS “impartially and
thoroughly investigating and scrutinising complaints in sexual offence
cases." "It
should be remembered that it is not the job of the police or CPS to
judge the truthfulness or otherwise of any allegation made,” she said.
“The deluge of sexual allegations in the system is well known. If the
criminal justice system is to cope and cope properly then funding must
be found to ensure that there are proper investigations, a proper
filtering system for cases that have no merit and a proper approach by
the police and CPS to disclosure issues.” She pointed to a joint
report of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate published in July highlighting
“severe shortcomings” in the ability of police and the CPS to deal with
the disclosure regime. Stephen Wooler, chief inspector of the CPS
between 2000 and 2010, said police and prosecutors face a “conundrum”
of needing to develop an affordable system that reliably identifies
information that might assist the defence. The relevant evidence could
be just a small proportion from the overall mass of documents and data
produced by modern investigations. “The CPS does not want the
material: it would have to pay its prosecutors and counsel to read it.
Nor do police managers want the cost of copying it on their budget.
Neither wants the task of copying it to all the defence,” he wrote in a
letter to The Times."
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the
Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my
previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put
considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith
and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic
pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses
on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please
send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest
to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy;
Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog."
Two Blogs Now: The Charles Smith Blog; The Selfless Warriors Blog: I created the Charles Smith Blog in 2007 after I retired from The Toronto Star to permit me to keep digging into the story of the flawed pathologist and the harm he had done to so many innocent parents and caregivers, and to Ontario’s criminal justice system. Since then it has taken new directions, including examinations of other flawed pathologists, flawed pathology, and flawed science and technology which has marred the quality of justice in courtrooms around the world. The heart of the Blog is my approach to following cases which raise issues in all of these areas - especially those involving the death penalty. I have dedicated 'The Selfless Warrior Blog’ (soon to appear) to those exceptional individuals who have been ripped out of their ordinary lives by their inability to stand by in the face of a glaring miscarriage of justice. They are my ’Selfless Warriors.’ Enjoy!
