Teacher cleared of rape slams former prosecution chief

A TEACHER wrongly accused of raping a pupil hit out last night at a former boss of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), accusing her of ‘hypocrisy’.

After the claims were made against Kato Harris, Alison Levitt was said by a judge to have put ‘enormous pressure’ on the police and her former CPS employers for him to be prosecuted, despite a lack of evidence.

Yet last month – 18 months after the teacher was cleared by a jury in only 15 minutes – Ms Levitt raised concerns over the police’s policy of automatically believing rape complainants. Last night Mr Harris branded Ms Levitt ‘completely hypocritical’ over the comments she made after two high-profile rape cases collapsed.

Ms Levitt, former principal legal adviser to the Director of Public Prosecutions, warned on Radio 4’s Today programme that a ‘rigid mindset’ could lead the police to miss or even disregard significant material that could clear rape case defendants. Mr Harris said: ‘These points, in regard to the police’s handling of rape suspects, are entirely fair. But it is beyond belief and completely hypocritical to hear Alison Levitt making them. As legal adviser to the family of the pupil accusing me, she did everything she could to ensure I ended up in court on charges, even though it was clear there was no supporting evidence.’

Ms Levitt’s comments follow a judge ruling last year that the QC and ex-Scotland Yard deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers – both employed by the pupil’s parents through law firm Mishcon de Reya – placed ‘enormous pressure’ on police and the CPS, which operates in England and Wales, to get Mr Harris convicted.

Despite warnings from police that the case was flimsy, Ms Levitt demanded detectives contact every pupil Mr Harris had ever taught and pressed officers to seize his computer. The judge said he was ‘at a loss’ to see how the CPS decided there was ‘sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction’.

Mishcon declined to comment.