Rape victims will be forced to hand over phones to police
RAPE victims will be forced to hand to over their mobile phones to police or risk their attacker walking free under a controversial new policy being introduced by prosecutors.
The National Police Chief Council and the Crown Prosecution Service have revealed plans that aim to stop sexual offences cases collapsing because crucial evidence emerges at the last moment. But the policy, under which victims must provide police with their phone and passcode, has already attracted criticism, with privacy and women’s campaign groups saying it treats victims like suspects, subjecting them to a “digital strip search” and will deter them from coming forward.
Two rape complainants are already planning a legal challenge to the policy and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is currently investigating.
One woman, named only as Olivia, said: “The data on my phone stretches back seven years and the police want to download it and keep it for a century.
“My phone documents many of the most personal moments in my life and the thought of strangers combing through it, to try to use it against me, makes me feel like I’m being violated once again.”
The consent forms allowing officers to access messages, photographs, emails and social media accounts are being rolled out across the country in a bid to make it easier to identify and handle crucial evidence.
If victims refuse to hand over their private data, they will be warned that their case may not be pursued.
The move is in response to disclosure failures, which have seen men held on bail for long period, in some cases for up to two years, before walking free when messages emerge from their accusers that cleared their name. Police chiefs claim the introduction of written
consent forms is a “step forward in the right direction” and will reduce the current confusion in the system.
Max Hill, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said digital devices will only be looked at when it forms a “reasonable line of inquiry” and only “relevant” material will go before a court if it meets “hard and fast” rules.
He said he hoped ultimately it would lead to more successful prosecutions for sexual offences.
Under the current legal framework, police have no legal power to seize digital devices from a complainant.
Nicholas Ephgrave, assistant commissioner and the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for criminal justice, explained that accusers “have the opportunity if they are uncomfortable with that for whatever reason to say ‘I don’t want that to happen’ and record the reasons why.
“But we also make clear that if that is the position they adopt, it may not be possible for a prosecution to proceed.”
Once written permission is given, the data, no matter how private, could then be shared with their attacker’s legal team under disclosure rules.
The new forms will not deal with the resourcing issues that senior officers have said leave police struggling to sift through thousands of messages.
The Centre for Women’s Justice is launching the legal challenge alongside the two alleged victims arguing the consent form discriminates based on sex, breaches the Data Protection Act and the right to privacy. Harriet Wistrich, founder of the CWJ, said that while complainants understand the need for relevant material to be examined, it is “disproportionate” for their entire lives to be downloaded.
“We seem to be going back to the bad old days when victims of rape are being treated as suspects,” she said.
However, justice campaigners warn that if the accused cannot see all of the evidence pertaining to the case, then there is a risk that innocent people will be convicted.
Nigel Evans MP said that the importance of disclosure was highlighted by a number of cases including that of Liam Allen, a student who had the
‘But we also make clear that if that is the position they adopt, it may not be possible for a prosecution to proceed’
charges against him dropped after messages from his accuser were revealed during his 2017 trial.
“I understand that there may be discomfort,” Mr Evans said. “But that is nothing compared to the pain and torture that those who are wrongfully accused face.”
A spokesman for the ICO said they are looking into the “concerns raised”.
A CPS spokesman said: “Mobiles should not be examined as a matter of course and we have made that very clear in our guidance. However, in circumstances when it is necessary we hope the clearer information we have provided will help complainants give free, specific and informed consent.”