Blind belief has no place in our courts
£2.5 million on Operation Midland, an investigation into alleged child abuse and murder carried out by leading politicians and military figures – based entirely on the claims of a fantasist known only as Nick.
When the case collapsed, retired judge Sir Richard Henriques car- ried out a review and concluded that ‘the instruction to believe a victim’s account should cease’.
And now, in a report seen by this newspaper, the College of Policing has agreed to change the terminology used.
It found that police should be open-minded and impartial and that automatically believing victims could ‘undermine’ the investigative process by not being fair to all.
However, the report was adamant that police should not take a ‘disbelieving stance’ as this would damage the confidence of anyone thinking of coming forward.
It concluded that the college should ‘propose a change removing the word “believe” but reinforce that fact that any crime will be treated seriously’. It also concluded, however, that police should keep using the term ‘victim’ instead of ‘complainant’.
Angela Rafferty QC, chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, said last night: ‘Recalibrating the approach of the police from automatically believing to listening and taking seriously will better ensure the police carefully and dispassionately investigate and pursue all relevant inquiries.’
FREEDOM is like a garden: if it is not carefully tended it will not flourish. Britain’s ancient constitution is full of valuable safeguards, but unless they are nurtured and encouraged in each generation, they will not survive.
There will always seem to be good reasons to scrap long-established rules. For example, our modern concerns about unpunished rape and child abuse are justified.
Such crimes must be detected and punished, and in the past there is no doubt some serious offenders have escaped justice. But the authorities went too far in trying to put this right.
The police have at last recognised that they made a serious mistake when they adopted a policy of believing all accusers, especially in such cases.
They did this in the hope of righting a wrong, but instead it undermined the most basic principle of liberty, the presumption of innocence.
Such principles are useless if they are just airy mottos. They must rule the whole system of law, from investigation to arrest to prosecution. To say from the start that you believe an alleged victim is to close your mind to alternatives.
It is also a recipe for wrongful convictions, many of which also mean real culprits escaping justice.
So it is good news that the College of Policing has recommended the formal end of the 2015 rules requiring officers to believe alleged victims, as The Mail on Sunday reports today. Instead, much more wisely, they promise to take complaints seriously, and listen to victims.
This mistake was made for the best of motives. And that is the problem, for many of the worst things are done for the best of motives and seem right at the time.
It may sometimes be unpopular to stand up for liberty, but that is when it is most vital that we do so, and without a free press in this country pointing out these dangers, this battle might have been lost.