Ex-MP falsely accused calls for prosecution
FORMER Birmingham MP John Hemming has hit out at the police for failing to prosecute a woman who falsely claimed he raped her as a child.
Esther Baker alleged that the ex-Yardley MP and a group of men raped her on Cannock Chase when she was aged between six and 11 – and that police had stood guard.
Staffordshire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service have since concluded there was insufficient evidence to back up her allegations.
But they have not charged her with any offence over the false claims.
Now, Liberal Democrat Mr Hemming says Miss Baker should be charged with perverting the course of justice and says he may even take out a private prosecution against her, or the force.
He said Staffordshire Police’s refusal to take action would encourage “other fantasists” to make bogus paedophile claims.
The father-of-five was speaking after the force informed him via email that there was “insufficient evidence” to proceed with the case against his accuser. The email came more than three years after Mr Hemming had asked Staffordshire Police to investigate Miss Baker for perverting the course of justice.
He said he had also learned that Staffordshire Police did not even seek the advice of the Crown Prosecution Service about whether or not they should charge Miss Baker, who is now in her mid 30s.
Mr Hemming and others, including a political grandee, had been accused by Miss Baker of repeatedly raping her in a forest at Cannock Chase in the 1980s and 1990s when she was aged between six and 11, and that police had stood guard.
She waived her right to anonymity in 2015 and gave a TV interview about her alleged ordeal.
The 58-year-old MP was voluntarily interviewed under caution by Staffordshire Police, but not arrested.
He then made a formal allegation to police that Miss Baker had perverted the course of justice.
Mr Hemming, who lost his Yardley seat to Jess Phillips in 2015, said: “I feel really let down by the criminal justice system and have lost all faith in the police. If it can happen to me, a former MP, it can happen to anyone.
“A random woman who I have never met decided to make nasty allegations about me.
“They were complete lies. I may seek a judicial review of the police decision or take out a private prosecution against my accuser.” Staffordshire Police said: “In April 2015, an allegation of perverting the course jus-
I feel really let down by the justice system and have lost all faith in the police. If it can happen to me, a former MP, it can happen to anyone John Hemming
of tice was made to Staffordshire Police in relation to complaints of non-recent sexual abuse that had been received.
After careful consideration, it has been determined that there is insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction for perverting the course of justice.”
Miss Baker has denied that she lied. In an email to her lawyer this week, copied to the Daily Mail, she said that police “have found zero evidence and not even a suggestion that I or others have been involved in an attempt to pervert the course of justice”.