The defendant was accused by a complainant with BPD and PTSD of locking her against her will in his flat for 11 hours and raping her at least 5 times. The defendant said that everything that happened was consensual: he had been blackmailed and threatened with false allegations after she left. After legal argument and a section 8 application, only 2 working days before trial the defence received disclosure of hundreds of pages of crime reports of previous allegations made by the complainant against other men, which had previously been withheld.
The prosecution instructed a silk at trial. There was substantial legal argument around admissibility, particularly considering the relationship between s. 41 (previous sexual behaviour of the complainant) and s.100 (non-defendant bad character) including the recent judgment of Edis LJ in Hurley [2025] EWCA Crim 642. The defence were able to establish a sufficient evidential basis for an inference that the previous complaints were false – the evidence was accordingly admitted.
It was discovered during cross-examination of the complainant that she had her phone connected to a third party from the live link room, which had been missed by the intermediary. The alleged blackmailer to whom the complainant made her first complaint turned out to have multiple convictions for robbery. He misled the police about attending court and is now wanted.
By the end of the case there was substantial material to show the allegations to be untrue. The jury returned swift and resounding not guilty verdicts on all counts.
Greg Unwin was instructed by David Holmes of Dalton Holmes Gray.