Article by Felicity Stryjak Definitions of “Victim” – 1) A person harmed, injured, or killed as a result of a crime, accident, or other event or action, Or 2) A person who has come to feel helpless and passive in the face of misfortune or ill-treatment. In July 2022, an ex-teacher was tried for sexual […]

The tragic story of Antony Broadwater’s wrongful conviction is essential reading because, although it took place in the USA, there are important lessons for our own justice system. Mistaken Identity In 1981 Alice Sebold, an 18-year-old student in Syracuse University in the US, was violently raped in an underpass amongst broken beer bottles and dead […]

The omnishambles that was a Church of England’s safeguarding investigation made Basil Fawlty’s hotel management skills look exemplary in comparison. But, unlike Fawlty Towers, this was no comedy. When a tiny smidgeon of concern, or more accurately, the rumour of a smidgeon of concern about Father Alan Griffin arose, the buck was passed from person […]

How easy it is to destroy a person’s life. It just takes three easy steps. 1. Make a false allegation of rape and paedophilia against the target of your campaign. Don’t worry if the police find no substance to the allegation. 2. Post your victim’s photo and name together with the false allegation on social […]

In 2017 FACT gave a questionnaire to its members who attended one of its conferences. The object was to glean ideas on how to cope with the terrible impact of being the object of a wrongful allegation of child abuse. The results of this questionnaire were distilled into a list of techniques and strategies that […]

The title is a quote from an article on Peter Joyce’s new website ‘Blackstone’s Drum‘. Blackstone (1723-1780) famously said “it is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.” This principle is said to have influenced the nineteenth-century development of “beyond a reasonable doubt” as the burden of proof in criminal law […]

The Oxford University research paper ‘The Impact of Being Wrongly Accused of Abuse in Occupations of Trust: Victim’s Voices’ describes the terrible suffering of the falsely accused and their friends and family. The effects of a wrongful allegation are long lasting or even life-long. With this in mind I wanted to find out how people […]

Most members of FACT will be only too aware that Simon Warr recently died following a rapidly progressive illness. Simon was a highly valued member of our committee who was vocal in his support for the falsely accused. He courageously spoke up for our plight on radio and television and in his blog ‘The Warr […]

A police officer was sentenced to three years in prison for perverting the course of justice. According to Sky News Senior Crown Prosecutor David Davies said “Hitesh Lakhani called 101 alleging he had witnessed a sexual assault that he knew did not happen. This was a spiteful act over a disagreement about hedge trimmings in […]

In 2009 Mark Barlow and Mark Newby delivered their seminal paper on challenging past historical allegations of abuse at a conference which brought together all sides in the Criminal Justice System. They are the guest speakers at our Autumn Conference and the title of their presentation will be “The last 10 years of historical abuse […]