Grieving father of suicide girl sued over false rape allegation
WHEN a beautiful young woman killed herself after being accused of making a false allegation of rape, it left her family devastated.
But now her grieving father is facing harrowing legal action of his own after the man his daughter accused of the assault launched a libel case against him.
Trainee accountant Eleanor de Freitas committed suicide aged 23 in April last year, three days before she was due in court to face a charge of perverting the course of justice.
Eleanor, who struggled with bipolar disorder, had told police she had been raped by Alexander Economou, 35, the son of a Greek shipping magnate. He responded by bringing a private prosecution for making false claims, which was then taken over by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Eleanor’s father, David de Freitas, has since campaigned for an inquiry into the behaviour of the CPS, saying his daughter had been failed by the justice system.
But Mr Economou claims that as a result of that campaign, he has been identified and his reputation damaged. He is now seeking damages and a gagging injunction. Mr de Freitas denies the claims.
The Mail on Sunday has established that the first High Court hearing is scheduled for tomorrow.
When contacted by the MoS, Mr Economou said he would not comment directly but released a statement through his lawyers, saying: ‘My reputation has been permanently and irreversibly damaged. I have been widely and repeatedly accused of a terrible crime which I simply did not commit. My family have received anonymous death threats. My personal relationships and my business relationships have all suffered terribly since Mr de Freitas went to the press. It has been three years of hell and I hope that my legal action will finally put an end to what has become a nightmare ordeal.’
The statement continued: ‘Not once in all of this have I forgotten that a young girl has tragically taken her own life. But grief does not give anyone the right to ruin an innocent man. I just want this to be over. I have no other choice but to pursue this course of action.’
Mr de Freitas said: ‘I have done nothing to attack Alexander Economou, so I cannot understand how I can be destroying his reputation.’ Mr Economou spent an estimated £200,000 gathering evidence – including CCTV images of him and Eleanor visiting a shop to buy sex toys the day after she had supposedly been assaulted – to show she had falsified her complaint.