By James Simons And Sammie Jones
A rape victim pestered the man she accuses of rape for casual sex, computer records show.
The revelation emerged in a court hearing in which 22-year-old Liam Allan stood accused of 12 counts of rape and sexual assault. The rape trial collapsed after the court discovered that police failed to disclose to the prosecution and defense team, phone messages between the complainant and her friends after viewing thousands of phone messages.
The Met Police is now set to hold an “urgent” review of the rape case for failing to disclose vital evidence.
A computer disk containing 40,000 messages confirmed the defendant’s claim that the alleged victim pestered Mr. Allan for “casual sex”.
INCOMPETENCE
Prosecution barrister Jerry Hayes accused police of “pure incompetence”.
The charges against the criminology student were dropped three days into the trial at Croydon Crown Court when Mr. Hayes- a reputable Barrister- took over the case. The CPS conceded that it offered no evidence in the case on Thursday as there was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction”.
OVERWHELMED
A relieved Mr. Allan told the BBC he was “overwhelmed” at the moment, adding:
“It’s a huge amount of confusion to go from being the villain to being innocent.”
He also told The Times he had suffered two years of “mental torture… I feel betrayed by the system which I had believed would do the right thing — the system I want to work in”. The system did not betray Mr.Allan, it vindicated him. The problem is that when a woman makes a detailed complaint of rape and the CPS believe there is a high chance of a conviction, they will press charges.
On the strength of the information before the CPS, they believed Allan was guilty. It is not their fault that the police did not disclose all the evidence to them including the fact the complainant had begged Mr.Allan for sex.
MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE
Mr. Hayes expresses concern that there was nearly “a massive miscarriage of justice” which could have led to Mr. Allan being imprisoned for 12 years and put on the sex offenders register for life.
He said the disk contained information which “completely blew the prosecution case out of the water”, although he believed the information had not been disclosed because of “sheer incompetence”.
Incompetence has often been the downfall of the police, although it would not be out of the ordinary for the crucial information left out to have been done deliberately. The alleged victim was protected by usual rules of anonymity, but she only has herself to blame. Any woman that begs a man for casual sex has no respect for herself or her body.
She will now have to pick up the pieces of her failed case and face the shame to those who know her. It won’t be an enjoyable Christmas for her, but Mr.Allan will be a hero to his peers after winning this case in big fashion, with the revelation that he was begged for sex out in the open. His head must be expanding with pride.