Metropolitan Police (London) reviewing rape cases after others collapse.

[oldbadger]

About 30 rape cases due for trial and 'scores' more are to be reviewed after the collapse of two (UK) cases in one week. The two cases, both investigated by the same officer, collapsed after the Metropolitan Police provided late disclosure of 'relevant' evidence.
The above para is a precis of a BBC Teletext report.
This looks very bad indeed. I'll post up new reports as they unfold.

 

[Altfish]

Yes, awful.
Trust has slowly been lost in the police in this country. It started with Hillsborough and the Miners Strike and events like this only reinforce the concerns.

 

[oldbadger]

Yes, awful.
Trust has slowly been lost in the police in this country. It started with Hillsborough and the Miners Strike and events like this only reinforce the concerns.

Update:- The case review list is now reaching into the hundreds....................
And the defendants have been living with the charges for years in some cases.............

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/20/met-police-deny-systemic-failure-in-case-disclosures
After collapse of two trials because of late disclosure, Scotland Yard says review of ongoing cases could run into hundreds.
Scotland Yard has rejected accusations that systemic failures have led to officers breaking rules aimed at ensuring trials are fair, after the collapse of two rape cases in a week

 

[oldbadger]

......

Update:-
https://www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/ann-widdecombe/894664/Rape-prosecution-failure-CPS-incompetent-toff-reality-shows
............ again another young man, Liam Allan, is acquitted of rape after the agony of years on police bail. Yet the evidence showing the young woman to have been
lying through her teeth was there in police files all along.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

It shows a lack of supervision. And ignoring the law, to gain a conviction at any cost.
With the massive cuts in funding, for the police and courts, such slackness and short cut taking have become inevitable.
It seems at least one Judge was on the ball.

 

[Altfish]

It shows a lack of supervision. And ignoring the law, to gain a conviction at any cost.
With the massive cuts in funding, for the police and courts, such slackness and short cut taking have become inevitable.
It seems at least one Judge was on the ball.

I agree, but it also shows how much pressure the police are under to get a conviction.

 

[Nakosis]

About 30 rape cases due for trial and 'scores' more are to be reviewed after the collapse of two (UK) cases in one week. The two cases, both investigated by the same officer, collapsed after the Metropolitan Police provided late disclosure of 'relevant' evidence.
The above para is a precis of a BBC Teletext report.
This looks very bad indeed. I'll post up new reports as they unfold.

It seems the police lack the resources to prosecute people charged with crimes. So in the interests of people receiving a fair trial, folks are getting acquitted without a trail.

Probably need to have a systems consultant come in and modernize their system.

 

[oldbadger]

It seems the police lack the resources to prosecute people charged with crimes. So in the interests of people receiving a fair trial, folks are getting acquitted without a trail.

Probably need to have a systems consultant come in and modernize their system.

The UK Police do not prosecute people.
The UK Police detect, investigate, detain, arrest. charge people.
The Crown Prosecution Service Prosecutes people.

In threse cases it appears that the CPS initiated prosecutions where the Police had only submitted evidence favouring the prosecution.

Now if true, that is very serious indeed. ALL the evidence should be submitted.
Our police are not there to 'fit up' cases.

 

[oldbadger]

It shows a lack of supervision. And ignoring the law, to gain a conviction at any cost.
With the massive cuts in funding, for the police and courts, such slackness and short cut taking have become inevitable.
It seems at least one Judge was on the ball.

Has there been any further info yet about the officer who investigated the first two cases?

It does look as if defence evidence (unhelpful) is being filed. But at least it has not been destroyed...... that would be a dreadful situation.

 

[oldbadger]

I agree, but it also shows how much pressure the police are under to get a conviction.

We might run a debate about the drug laws in the UK, and the massive involvement (and costs) of the Police in those laws. That might be quite a hot debate?

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

We might run a debate about the drug laws in the UK, and the massive involvement (and costs) of the Police in those laws. That might be quite a hot debate?

It would seem that like the NHS, the police are now forced to target and ration their services.
In the recent consultation by the Mayor and Manchester police, it was suggested that some services will no longer be covered at all, and others substantionally reduced. However they failed to mention which these services were.
I am surprised that the Tories have not yet suggested to pay police forces by their results.
Perhaps a drug bust would be worth more than a murder or sex attack, based on financial value.
And a road offence more than anti social behaviour, as they can be fined more.
As soon as they are in profit, the police could be privatised.
They could then fund themselves by selliing the busted drugs, on the international market.
Could be a very good investment for some Tory backers.

 

[Altfish]

We might run a debate about the drug laws in the UK, and the massive involvement (and costs) of the Police in those laws. That might be quite a hot debate?

No debate with me, repeal them all. Then sell drugs at chemists and the like; hard drugs available through chemists but details taken so you can be weaned off.
Undercut the drug lords and they go out of business.

 

[oldbadger]

It would seem that like the NHS, the police are now forced to target and ration their services.
In the recent consultation by the Mayor and Manchester police, it was suggested that some services will no longer be covered at all, and others substantionally reduced. However they failed to mention which these services were.
I am surprised that the Tories have not yet suggested to pay police forces by their results.
Perhaps a drug bust would be worth more than a murder or sex attack, based on financial value.
And a road offence more than anti social behaviour, as they can be fined more.
As soon as they are in profit, the police could be privatised.
They could then fund themselves by selliing the busted drugs, on the international market.
Could be a very good investment for some Tory backers.

Wow!
We ought to do that........ debate all this .............
After retirement I had a part-time job, cleaning carpets! I loved it. Early one morning I arrived to clean carpets at a flat but after unloading my gear outside the property I discovered that I had been given the wrong front-door key and could not get in. As I stood there a very large team (about 8) of body-armoured police appeared round the corner, wall-hugginbg as they crept towards me, frantically gesticulating that I get clear.
They impacted in the front door and raced into the building, calling out their ID. Eventually they brought a couple out and away and I gained entry to the flat below to clean carpets.
Before I had finished the arrested woman of the couple returned. She had been released without charge. Her partner was going to get a Caution for possession of cannabis.

This is rubbish policing but more importantly rubbish legislation, and very expensive.

 

[oldbadger]

No debate with me, repeal them all. Then sell drugs at chemists and the like; hard drugs available through chemists but details taken so you can be weaned off.
Undercut the drug lords and they go out of business.

Yep............ that would be a rubbish debate.
Mostly anybody with a brain would be agreeing, and all we could do is pat each other on the back!

It is a kind of corruption. A high % of youth prefers 'pot' to **** 'n' booze and it's so easy for Police to carry out routine vehicle stops and sniff-air to produce a Caution at least or the occasional distribution arrest at best.
Bingo! A Drug Bust on the stats! Easy figures, easy search reasons, etc.......

If we repealed the bloomin' lot then we'd get so much revenue from pot sales and prescribed harder drug sales that there would be money for hospitals, even after the corruption had ripped away some of it!

And the Police could get on with some real police work.

And the drug gangs would dissipate.

 

[Altfish]

Yep............ that would be a rubbish debate.
Mostly anybody with a brain would be agreeing, and all we could do is pat each other on the back!

It is a kind of corruption. A high % of youth prefers 'pot' to **** 'n' booze and it's so easy for Police to carry out routine vehicle stops and sniff-air to produce a Caution at least or the occasional distribution arrest at best.
Bingo! A Drug Bust on the stats! Easy figures, easy search reasons, etc.......

If we repealed the bloomin' lot then we'd get so much revenue from pot sales and prescribed harder drug sales that there would be money for hospitals, even after the corruption had ripped away some of it!

And the Police could get on with some real police work.

And the drug gangs would dissipate.

You'd also be able to close many old prisons as many people are in them for stealing stuff just to fund their drug habit.

It is WIN, WIN, WIN

Until the likes of the Daily Mail stick their oar in.

 

[oldbadger]

You'd also be able to close many old prisons as many people are in them for stealing stuff just to fund their drug habit.

It is WIN, WIN, WIN

Until the likes of the Daily Mail stick their oar in.

BBC teletext reported today that a 2014 rape conviction has been overturned due to new evidence disclosure. Where is this all going? And...... will perversion-of-course-of-justice be dragged out and dusted down for any perjuries or intentional obstructions?

And 'yes', the drugs 'thing' is utterly mad at present.
Repeals =
Less Gangs.
More freedom for doctors to prescribe.
More benefits for very ill and end-of-life patients.
More Police time for actual real policing.
Less retail and burglary crime.
Masses of Revenue.
Fewer gang killings.
More employment in Retail?

Would there be more drug-related deaths?
I'm not sure about that.

 

[oldbadger]

BUMP!
On BBC Teletext News this morning, it is reported that Alison Saunders the Director of Public Prosecutions has ordered reviews into ALL Sexual Assault cases as well as rape cases (in England and Wales) , after it has been discovered that Police have witheld defence-useful evidence from hundreds of cases.

This now looks like a 'Perversion of Justice' bubble ready to burst.

I am now wondering how many hundreds of previously convicted sex offenders are innocent? Is this the result of the 'get sex offenders' crusade of the last decade?

THis might need a new thread...............?

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Withholding defence useful evidence is not the same as establishing innocence or guilt.
It just means that Some of the evidence was not made available to the defence.
Unless such evidence is absolutely conclusive it would be reasonable for it to only result in a retrial.

It is unreasonable to suppose that withholding of such evidence only occurs in sex cases.

 

[oldbadger]

This thread's Opening Post reported that up to 30 cases would need to be reviewed.
This has now expanded to about 600 cases in London alone, and some lawyers are expecting that this could expand to many thousands of cases.

Where defendants have already had their trials dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service many have been on bail awaiting trial for up to two years.

The Metropolitan Police Force has apologised to one innocent defendant, who explained at a press interview that his life had been a living hell for all that time.

I'm guessing that this could possibly lead from causes of large numbers of unread IT messages, through carelessness, and maybe even on to perversion of justice in some cases.

The story is slowly growing, and I hope that it will cascade soon, because at this time many claims of sexual crimes are being auto-credited by the public.