There have been two reports on the Bichard Report which may be of interest to the fasely accused.
Details of private family court proceedings that led to a mother fleeing the country with her son after he was placed in foster care have been disclosed after legal action by The Times.
The highly unusual ruling allows the publication of undisclosed details of the case. The boy’s stepfather was sent to prison for 16 months for helping the mother to remove him from care and flee abroad.
She has since had another baby, the couple’s first child. The stepfather has been released from prison but is forbidden to contact his wife. (contd)
Acknowledgement: Rosemary Bennett, TImes, Social Affairs Correspondent
Other articles which may be of interest include:
Robert Murat, the British expatriate property consultant libelled in more than 100 articles in the British tabloid press over the disappearance in May last year of Madeleine McCann from Praia da Luz, the Portuguese resort where he lived, accepted more than £600,000 in damages from 11 national newspapers yesterday.
At a hearing in the high court lasting less than seven minutes, the media organisations (the Daily and Sunday Express and Daily Star from Express Newspapers; the Daily Mail, Evening Standard, and Metro of Associated Newspapers; the Daily and Sunday Mirror and the Scottish Daily Record of the MGN group; and News Group's Sun and News of the World - which together have a combined print circulation of 15m copies) acknowledged that the stories they had run about Murat over nine months were entirely untrue, should never have been made and were unreservedly withdrawn.
Similar acknowledgements were made about articles libelling Michaela Walczuch, an ex-business partner and friend of Murat, who was also in court, and Sergey Malinka, an IT consultant and friend of the two, who will also receive six-figure damages.
Among the false and highly defamatory allegations, many spread luridly across front pages, were claims that Murat, who had offered to help the police investigation and translate for journalists, was himself involved in the girl's disappearance, that he and his friends had been part of a paedophile ring, that they had lied to the police, and that DNA evidence of Madeleine had been found in his house. There were even allegations that his behaviour was similar to that of the Soham murderer Ian Huntley. Malinka was also falsely accused of having convictions for child sex offences.
The solicitor for the three, Louis Charalambous, told Mr Justice Eady: "The defamatory allegations ... should never have been made and are unreservedly withdrawn. The defendants wish to make unreserved apology for the false, defamatory allegations which they published."
No newspaper executive, news editor or editor was in court to hear their solicitor Keith Mathieson briefly confirm the papers' apology, regret the distress they had caused and to confirm their agreement to pay costs and substantial damages.
Outside the court, confronted with eight television crews, seven reporters and more than 20 photographers, four rows deep, Murat answered questions in English and Portuguese. "This has been incredibly difficult. It was devastating. It is a vindication," he said. He spoke of the destruction of his family's life and the immense distress the articles had caused.
Charalambous said: "Until now Robert Murat has had to watch silently as the worst elements of the British media have gone about destroying his good name and reputation. The behaviour of the tabloid journalists and their editors has been grossly irresponsible, demonstrating a reckless disregard for the truth. The record sum of £600,000 in damages will help him and his family rebuild their lives.
"Let's not forget Mr Malinka's and Ms Walczuch's lives have also been devastated by the baseless, inaccurate media coverage ... today's public apology and the six-figure sum in damages that each of these parties have also secured will go some way to compensating for the distress they have suffered and restoring their good names. It will bury the lies published about them."
Sources at the newspapers have suggested that sharing of liability meant they got off relatively financially lightly, though it may make them more cautious about running scurrilous allegations made abroad, at least for the time being.
As he left Murat was surrounded by photographers, some of whom pulled open the door of his taxi as it tried to drive away.
Source: Guardian
See also:
Community Care have reported that the sacking of a UK social worker from a Jersey secure unit would have been considered unfair if his employment tribunal had concluded, an inquiry has found.
Simon Bellwood, who went public in Community Care last year with his concerns, claimed children were being locked up in solitary confinement for 24 hours or more under a system known as grand prix, and that his manager had bullied and harrassed him at the Greenfields unit.
Bellwood claimed unfair dismissal last year and his case went to an employment tribunal this March, which was settled in his favour halfway through the proceedings. As part of the settlement, an independent inquiry into the circumstances of his sacking was commissioned by the States of Jersey employment board.
Acknowledgement and full story: Community Care
A woman has told how her Midland family was torn apart after her sister made false child sex abuse allegations against their father.
The daughter, now a high-profile figure in education, had claimed she was raped by her dad at the age of just two.
But her shocked father and family have always denied the allegations and say she is a victim of False Memory Syndrome.
Critics say the condition is a damaging side-effect of a controversial psychological treatment called Recovered Memory Therapy.
The practice has been discredited by many experts and groups, including the British False Memory Society which says more than 2,000 families have been hit by unfounded child abuse accusations.
The daughter, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had accused her father of raping her as a toddler in a letter to him just months before she was due to marry. Yet she has never gone to police with the claims, which followed long periods of counselling.
Her angry sister said: ‘‘My sister has suffered from depression and was in expensive private therapy from the age of 19.
“After university she got engaged and everything seemed to be going perfectly.
But months before her wedding she sent a letter to my parents claiming that my father had abused her and she did not want them at the wedding.
“It was devastating. Everyone was in pieces.
“I remember my father saying, ‘How can she think I did this to her?’ Next day he left me an answerphone message saying he wanted to kill himself but wouldn’t because the only thing that kept him going was our mother.
“Yet you can’t prove innocence of a crime that never happened. My father cannot prove he did not rape my sister when she was two years-old.
‘‘With cases where an adult claims to have recovered memories from childhood, it’s just one person’s word against another.’’
The devastated father was prepared to deny the claims at court - but his daughter has never reported them to police.
Her sister added: ‘‘If she was ever serious about them she would have gone to the police but she never did and now she has a high-profie job I doubt she ever will.
‘‘She left me in the impossible situation where I didn’t want to believe my father had raped her but I also didn’t want to dismiss her allegations, even though I believed they were untrue.
“But in the meantime, our family has been torn apart.
“The best way I can describe it is like a bereavement. We feel the pain of losing her every day.
“My mother said it is like having a limb cut off andmy dad has turned to drink to cope. It is just devastating to see them like this.
“I have no doubt this was brought on by the damaging memory regression therapy she had, and books which promote these false memories in people.
“She was led through therapy to believe what she now believes, even though she can’t explain what those memories are exactly.
“But there is a confusion surrounding this whole issue.
“I would never dismiss someone who claimed they had been abused but too many people refuse to acknowledge that false memories exist.
“Child protection agencies and Survivor Groups don’t want to even acknowledge that false allegations can happen.
Until they do, families will continue to be torn apart.”
● For more information contact the British False Memory Society
Source: Sunday Mercury
"Woman falsey accused ex boyfriend of rape following consensual sex to keep her current ex boyfriend from breaking up with her"
The above incident fits in the category that Prof. Eugene Kanin's landmark study of false rape claims identified as the most common motive for false rape claims -- it served the woman's "need to provide a plausible explanation" for a sexual encounter with a male acquaintance. In other words, an alibi.
Here, the young woman had consensual sex with her ex-boyfriend and then feared that if her current boyfriend found out, he would break up with her. So she claimed the ex raped her.
Consider how ruthless this young woman is: she was willing to sacrifice her ex-boyfriend to a felony prison term -- and destroy his life forever -- to insure her current boyfriend would not discover her unfaithfulness.
See: The False Rape Society | Source | July 20, 2008
Also Professor Eugene's Kanin's landmark study which begins:-
With the cooperation of the police agency of a small metropolitan community, 45 consecutive, disposed, false rape allegations covering a 9 year period were studied. These false rape allegations constitute 41% the total forcible rape cases (n = 109) reported during this period.
These false allegations appear to serve three major functions for the complainants: providing an alibi, seeking revenge, and obtaining sympathy and attention. False rape allegations are not the consequence of a gender-linked aberration, as frequently claimed, but reflect impulsive and desperate efforts to cope with personal and social stress situations.
The BBC have reported that a police officer eho was recently cleared of assault was found dying on Snowdon.
A police officer who was cleared of wrongdoing after punching a woman while trying to arrest her has died after being found in north Wales.
Pc Anthony Mulhall, of South Yorkshire, was found on Snowdon on Thursday, but died in hospital on Friday.
He was removed from frontline duties in March 2007 when he was caught on CCTV hitting Toni Comer, 21, as he tried to subdue her outside a Sheffield club.
An investigation later decided that no officers should be charged.
Pc Mulhall was reported missing from his home in the Rotherham area on Wednesday.
A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "A mountain rescue team located him on Snowdon on Thursday afternoon and airlifted him to hospital, where he was placed under intensive care. He died at 1.30pm on Friday."
The county's Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes paid tribute to the officer, who had served with the force for 11 years.
Mr Hughes said: "This is terrible news and our condolences go out to his family.
"Pc Mulhall was highly regarded and will be missed by all his colleagues and friends."
A post-mortem examination to establish the cause of death has yet to be arranged.
'Justified force'
The Independent Police Complaints Commission launched an investigation after Ms Comer complained she had been assaulted by two police officers during her arrest on suspicion of causing criminal damage to a car outside the Niche nightclub in Sheffield on 30 July 2006.
Ms Comer later pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage and was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £250 compensation.
The IPCC investigation found the allegations that two officers assaulted Ms Comer were unsubstantiated and said Pc Mulhall had used "justified and proportionate force" to arrest someone who was being aggressive and actively resisting arrest.
It also said there was no evidence of any racism in the police actions.
Pc Mulhall's death comes just four months after Michael Todd, the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, was found dead on Snowdon.
The circumstances surrounding the police chief's death in March are still being investigated and an inquest has been opened and adjourned.
Source BBC
According to a report by Duncan Campbell in the The Guardian the Prison service is to review the jail status of a man for a murder the man claims he did not commit.
The prison service is to review the jail status of a man serving life for a murder he claims he did not commit. The case could set a precedent for prisoners who claim to be victims of miscarriages of justice and thus have to serve longer sentences than if they admitted guilt.
In a brief hearing in the high court yesterday, it was announced that the case of Kevin Lane, 40, jailed for life for a 1994 murder, will be examined again by prison authorities. Lane had brought a case against the justice secretary, Jack Straw, because he is denied a downgrading of his prison status.
Lane is a high security prisoner in HMP Frankland in Durham because he was convicted of what was seen as a gangland murder. He can only be downgraded if he attends courses that "address offending behaviour", which involve admitting guilt. Because Lane protests his innocence he is not eligible for such courses and is therefore unable to proceed towards release.
Mr Justice Bean accepted the prison service would review Lane's status. Simon Creighton, Lane's solicitor, said: "My client is very pleased that the secretary of state has accepted the errors in the way he has approached the case and he is hoping his status will be downgraded as a result."
Lane, of Potton, Bedfordshire, was convicted in 1996 of the murder of businessman Robert Magill, shot dead close to his Hertfordshire home. Lane claims the murder was committed by two other men.
Acknowledgement: Guardian
There are two excellent artivcles in todays Times
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A moving response to our family justice campaign by Camilla Cavendish. The article begins ...
"I am awed by the response to the family justice campaign that The Times launched last week. So many readers have e-mailed their MPs that I am getting calls from all three main parties. Several MPs have also raised their private concerns about how their own local authorities behave. It is uplifting to see democracy in action.
There are chinks of light already..
well worth reading
There are two excellent reports in todays Times concerning issue to do with memory, recall, the courts and justice.