Legal News

In 2005, when Rebecca, (name changed) who was then 15 went to the police and lodged a complaint that she was raped by a man in his twenties.

But the alleged attacker who was put to trial was acquitted because the Met Police which was investigating the case had lost vital evidence. Even the judge at the trial had branded the whole episode as a disgrace.
In 2009, three years after the alleged attacker walked free, four officers were reprimanded. Three received written warnings while the fourth was given what the police call "words of advice".
An internal Met report had detailed how in the Southwark Sapphire team which investigates sexual offences was being using untrained officers in investigating rape cases. They claimed their bosses had held the belief that car crime was a greater priority that sex offences.
Meanwhile, with the help of the charity Women Against Rape, Rebecca and her mother were still trying to get justice.
They enlisted human rights lawyer who suggested filing a civil case against the Met Police. She said that there were some cases going on in the European Court of Human Rights which suggested that states had a duty to investigate rape under Article three of the Human Rights Act.
In UK courts there wasn’t much and it was a bit tenuous but the team tried to pull everything together by trying to establish that the police had a duty to victims of rape and sexual assault in as much as investigating those crimes properly and that if they failed it would be breach of victim’s human rights.
Sally the mother of Rebecca said she was appalled by the rough tactics employed by the Scotland Yard which fought the case by using dirty tactics where they said some horrendous things in the court.
After the family's earlier bad experience with the police, Sally was astonished at what she feels were the rough tactics by Scotland Yard in the civil case.
She said that the same resources that the Met had put in fighting the civil case had been used to investigate her daughter’s rape the accused would have been found guilty and punished.
But eventually the Scotland Yard offered to settle the case out of court by initially offering £8,000, later doubling it to £15,000.
Since it was higher than the awards given by the European courts in similar human rights cases, Rebecca and her mother agreed very reluctantly to settle. As the case could have lasted for more than six years and the family was frustrated that financial constraints would mean heavy costs in case of a loss and though their aim was not to secure a payout they had to settle with a feeling that the result may aid other women.