Rape victim to ask First Minister to scrap controversial not proven verdict
A rape victim turned campaigner will meet the First Minister this week to ask for the abolition of Scotland’s controversial not proven verdict.
The St Andrews University student’s life was torn apart in September 2013 when she was raped by Stephen Coxen.
She reported the crime and endured a two-year police inquiry to see her attacker walk free from the High Court in November 2015 on a not proven verdict.
Three years later Miss M – who cannot be named for legal reasons – successfully sued Coxen, from Bury, Lancashire, in a civil court. The sheriff said Coxen had raped her and he was ordered him to pay her £80,000.
On Wednesday, Miss M will meet Nicola Sturgeon as she campaigns to have the controversial not proven verdict abolished.
Speaking to the Sunday Post shortly after the launch of 16 Days of Action, a worldwide campaign to end gender-based violence and domestic abuse, Miss M said: “When he got the not proven verdict I couldn’t stand the injustice and the fact that he was returning home to Bury and could just live his life.
“I will be meeting the First Minister for the first time and sharing with her my experiences of going through five years of the Scottish courts and the reasons why I have chosen to campaign to end the use of the not proven verdict.
“This verdict is a comma, not a full stop. It is confusing and is not a conclusion.
“The verdict was the harsh reality that this is the world we live in; that someone who has raped you can literally go back to work the next day.”
Miss M has previously addressed the Faculty of Advocates, universities, policy makers, survivors and survivors’ families on the issue.
Last month she spoke at the Scottish Parliament alongside fellow campaigner Joe Duffy, whose 19-year-old daughter Amanda’s alleged murderer Francis Auld was also freed on a not proven verdict.
According to research, scrapping the not proven verdict could edge more jurors towards a guilty verdict in finely balanced trials.
The two-year study – results of which were published in October – also found reducing the size of juries in Scotland, from 15 to 12, could lead to more jurors switching to the majority view.
Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said he would be engaging with legal professionals and the wider public to consider all of the findings, including whether to move to a two verdicts system.
“My mind is open and we will not prejudge the outcome of those conversations,” he said.