Rape case was dropped due to woman’s ‘adventurous sex life’

AN ALLEGED rape victim had her case dropped because she “enjoyed an adventurous sex life”, according to a dossier of 20 sex assaults ditched by prosecutors despite overwhelming evidence.

They include a rape victim whose case was backed by Lucy Frazer, the justice minister, who is a QC and former solicitor general.

The list was compiled by a coalition of women’s groups which claims the Crown Prosecution Service contributed to a slump in rape convictions by abandoning hundreds of “weak” cases.

The dossier includes evidence from a CPS whistleblower alleging the “riskaverse” policy was introduced three years ago.

It was part of an unsuccessful High Court action against the CPS but is published in full in a letter to Robert Buckland, the Justice Secretary, urging him to consider it as part of a Government inquiry into falling rape convictions. Over the past five years, rape offences reported to police have risen by about 65 per cent to 55,195.

However, the proportion making it to court has more than halved. The last available 12-month figures showed 2,343 prosecutions in the year to September 2019, compared with 3,034 in the 12 months to March 2019.

In one case, Imogen, who accused her ex-partner of a violent rape, was told by the CPS the “jury would be aware that you had enjoyed an adventurous sex life with the suspect before this incident”.

Her alleged attacker claimed she consented, while CPS said her delay of a week in making a complaint and her medical evidence then not being “wholly supportive” of a sexual assault led them to reject it.

She sought an official review of the decision but decided against it due to the distress and trauma involved.

In the appeal backed by Ms Frazer, Olivia – a gay woman – was allegedly raped by a stranger in the early hours, but the CPS refused to prosecute because CCTV footage suggested she had followed the man out on to the street.

Olivia said the CCTV only provided a partial account of events while she had medical issues meaning she could not flee. Her appeal against the decision not to prosecute was rejected by the CPS, which confirmed there had been no change of policy in charging decisions for rape. “We will always seek to prosecute where there is sufficient evidence to do so, in line with the code for crown prosecutors,” a spokesman said.