Tory MP’S aide cleared of rape after last-minute police disclosure
‘My case could have been a miscarriage of justice’ says 24-year-old charged over Westminster assault claims
A CONSERVATIVE MP’S chief of staff cleared yesterday of raping a woman in a parliamentary office said he nearly became the latest victim of a miscarriage of justice because crucial evidence was withheld from his lawyers.
Samuel Armstrong, 24, said his life had been “turned upside down” after he was wrongfully charged with two counts of rape and two of sexual assault. He was cleared unanimously of all charges by a jury at Southwark Crown Court following a seven-day trial. The jury rejected prosecution claims that he forced himself twice on a woman after a drunken night at the Palace of Westminster in October 2016.
It emerged that the woman, in her 20s, had not wanted to release medical records showing she suffered depression and anxiety. Phone records also revealed that hours after the “attack” she tipped off a tabloid newspaper.
Speaking outside court, Mr Armstrong, from Danbury, Essex, said he had struggled to eat or sleep after being charged in October last year.
“I was innocent,” he said. “Were it not for the fact that crucial evidence was disclosed to my defence team just eight working days before trial, there could well have been yet another miscarriage of justice in this case.”
His comments have fuelled the debate about how rape cases are handled following the revelations that police withheld evidence from defence lawyers that could have cleared two men charged with sex crimes.
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman last night insisted procedures had been adhered to in Mr Armstrong’s case, adding that “additional material” was released to his team the day after police obtained it. Police have a duty to disclose material to defence lawyers right up to the start of a trial. Although a time limit is not defined, judges can set specific dates by which all evidence must be handed over.
The court had heard that Mr Armstrong and the woman had been socialising in the bars of Westminster Palace before being filmed on CCTV walking arm in arm to Mr Mackinlay’s office.
There they twice had sex, before the woman ran out in tears and contacted police. She claimed she had fallen asleep and awoke to find Mr Armstrong having sex with her.
In a call she made shortly after 2am to the Metropolitan Police Parliamentary Protection Group she sobbed: “I’ve just been forced upon. I just had sex and I really, really didn’t want to.”
Mr Armstrong, who repeatedly texted the woman to find out what was the matter and to check whether she had got out safely, told the jury: “I don’t understand to this day why within a matter of minutes she got upset.” He had lost his dream job after being suspended from the Conservative Party.
The woman later rejected the suggestion by Mr Armstrong’s legal team that she had told a lie and then felt unable to backtrack.
Sarah Forshaw, QC, defending, also read out part of a text message in which the woman described how she had wanted to conceal her medical records to get “more leeway to hide certain aspects and mould what comes out”.
The lawyer had earlier tried to get the trial halted because of the Westminster sex scandal furore.
‘Were it not for the fact that crucial evidence was disclosed to my defence team just eight working days before trial, there could well have been yet another miscarriage of justice in this case’