Barrister who had sex in public has her police record wiped
She says she was drunk during lawyer romp
A BARRISTER caught having sex against a wall with her knickers round her ankles has succeeded in having her police caution withdrawn.
The QC faced professional disgrace after being caught with solicitor Graeme Stening on a road outside Waterloo Station in London during the early-evening rush hour.
The pair were arrested and thrown in cells to sober up – and the next morning the barrister, who cannot be named for legal reasons, took legal advice before accepting a caution for ‘outraging public decency’.
mr Stening refused to accept the caution, which involves admitting to a criminal offence, and police charged him, meaning the whole sordid story would come out in court, with the QC being named in public.
But six weeks after the incident, the QC contacted police to say she wanted her caution withdrawn, claiming she had belatedly realised she had been on medication and too drunk to consent, so must have been a victim of sexual assault rather than a culprit herself.
It led to mr Stening – a married father of three who lives with wife Sian, who has stood by him, in a £2 million house in Windlesham, Surrey – facing a potential charge of sexual assault, and imprisonment, while the QC was given anonymity as the alleged victim of a sexual attack.
That anonymity remained even when police dropped plans to charge mr Stening, 53, after witnesses said the QC was a willing partner who seemed to consent to everything.
mr Stening’s lawyer claimed the QC’s sole motivation for crying sexual assault was to protect her anonymity – and called for her to be investigated by police for perverting the course of justice, and by the Bar Standards Board for professional misconduct.
Remarkably, however, the QC has succeeded in her 18month battle to have her caution for lewd behaviour withdrawn – even though she initially accepted it, and though the police decided there was no chance of a prosecution of the man based on her account of the incident.It means she has walked away from her involvement in a sexual act in a public place without being publicly identified, and with no sign that she will face any professional discipline.
mr Stening, meanwhile, faced eight months of vilification as an alleged sex attacker, before the police withdrew that case, and he instead accepted a caution for outraging public decency.
The daily mail can reveal that the Solicitors Regulation authority decided no further professional disciplinary action should be taken against him.
a met Police spokesman said last night the QC’s caution had been withdrawn, or ‘expunged’, after one of the most senior officers in the force became involved.
The spokesman said: ‘The woman’s caution was expunged on april 20. The caution was expunged on the authority of deputy assistant Commissioner Richard martin.
‘DAC martin was not satisfied the full criteria for the original caution were met. Therefore it was expunged.’
When the prosecution of mr Stening was finally dropped last June, a source said: ‘There is now independent evidence from witnesses, it seems, who saw what an active participant she was in this “romp”.
‘I can’t believe the police will accept her attempt to withdraw her acceptance of the caution.
‘If her attempt were to be successful, she would surely have to be charged with outraging public decency – and appear in court after all.’
The Bar Standards Board refused to comment on the woman’s case.
‘The caution was expunged’