The betrayal of a man denied natural justice

IT’S a basic tenet of British law that the accused should know the charges against them and who is making the allegations. Carl Sargeant was denied both these fundamental rights – by a party that pretends to care about justice. The Labour Welsh Assembly member was named, shamed and ignominiously sacked from his cabinet post without ever knowing exactly why. All First Minister Carwyn Jones told him was that there were complaints he had behaved ‘inappropriately’ towards an undisclosed number of women.

Distraught and abandoned, he took his own life, leaving a loving wife and children.

He is a victim of the hysterical witch-hunt sweeping through British politics, whereby an allegation that a male MP placed his hand on a woman’s knee years ago is enough to put his career in jeopardy.

True, there have been reports of serious sexual assault and they must be fully investigated, but most claims involve crass behaviour by foolish men who should know better, rather than criminality.

But in the frenzied kangaroo court of social media, little distinction is made between rape and boorishness. Anyone accused is automatically guilty and branded a sex criminal, however trivial the offence.

The Mail can only hope this tragic death will be a watershed – making complainants think carefully about the consequences of allegations they make and reminding all political parties that a man is presumed innocent until proved guilty.

We don’t know the seriousness of the allegations against Mr Sargeant, but they were not deemed worthy of reporting to the police. Whatever they were, he certainly didn’t deserve to die because of them.