By Sandra Laville from the Guardian UK

Eleanor de Freitas died days before she had to go on trial accused of lying about rape claim, despite lack of evidence

An inquest into the death of Eleanor de Freitas is to begin on Friday. An inquest into the death of Eleanor de Freitas is to begin on Friday. Photograph: Family

A young woman who said she had been raped went on to kill herself after the Crown Prosecution Service put her on trial for making up the allegation in a case originally instigated by her alleged attacker.

The woman’s father is calling on the CPS to explain why they pursued a charge of perverting the course of justice against Eleanor de Freitas, 23, despite being told by police that there was no evidence she had lied, and in the knowledge that she was suffering from a psychiatric illness.

De Freitas killed herself in April this year, three days before her trial was due to start at Southwark crown court. In notes left for her family she described her overwhelming fear of giving evidence as a motive for taking her life.

An inquest into the death of De Freitas, an A-grade student who suffered from bipolar disorder, is due to open in west London on Friday. Lawyers for her family are calling on the coroner to postpone the hearing in order to carry out a wider inquiry in front of a jury to examine whether the CPS decision to prosecute was a contributing factor in her death.

David de Freitas, her father, said: “Eleanor was a vulnerable young woman, diagnosed with bipolar, who made a complaint of rape as a result of which she herself became the subject of legal proceedings. This was despite the fact the police did not believe there to be a case against her.

“There are very serious implications for the reporting of rape cases if victims fear that they may themselves end up the subject of a prosecution if their evidence is in any way inconsistent. It is of the utmost importance that the CPS consider very carefully whether such cases are in the public interest.”

He added: “I feel that the system of fairness in this country has let me down terribly, and something needs to be done so that this can never happen again.”

The CPS had pursued De Freitas for allegedly making up the rape allegation after the man at the centre of the claims spent £200,000 on a private prosecution, documents submitted to the inquest say.

Lawyers for the CPS were told by the detective who investigated the rape allegation that there was no evidence that she had lied, they would not be investigating her for perverting the course of justice and the crime had been recorded as rape.

De Freitas’s death has echoes of the suicide of Frances Andrade, who killed herself after being accused of lying in court about the abuse she suffered at the hands of Michael Brewer, the former director of music at Chetham’s school in Manchester.

Victim Support and Justice for Women have both written to the director of public prosecutions Alison Saunders expressing their concerns at the wider implications of the De Freitas case for rape complainants coming forward in future if alleged rapists are able to use the law to intimidate them.

In a statement, Saunders said she was concerned about the case and was investigating it personally. “I have asked the team which dealt with this case for a full explanation which addresses all of the De Freitas family’s concerns. I appreciate the family’s unease which is why I am looking at this personally in order to satisfy myself of the detail surrounding all the stages of the case.”

She added that she would welcome the opportunity then to meet her family and said the circumstances regarding the case were “rare, extremely difficult and always complex and sensitive. This case was one of the most difficult I have seen.”

Director of public prosecutions Alison Saunders Director of public prosecutions Alison Saunders. Photograph: David Levene/Guardian

De Freitas reported to police on 4 January 2013 that she had been allegedly drugged and raped by a male associate shortly before Christmas in 2012. The police investigated the case, interviewed De Freitas and arrested the alleged perpetrator. But the police eventually told De Freitas they could not proceed further as there was not a realistic chance of a successful conviction, partly due to the fact she had reported the alleged rape some time after the event and as such no forensic evidence had been collected to support her claims. The alleged perpetrator was told there would be no further action and the case was closed.

De Freitas’s father said his daughter had accepted the police’s decision and tried to get on with her life. But the man at the centre of the rape claim began a private prosecution against her saying she had lied about the rape. Some months later lawyers for the CPS announced they were taking over the case against De Freitas. Her trial for perverting the course of justice was due to open on 7 April. On 4 April she took her own life.

On Friday Harriet Wistrich, of Birnberg Peirce and Partners, acting on behalf of the De Freitas family, will call for the West London coroner Chinyere Inyama to widen the inquest to consider whether the Crown Prosecution Service breached Article 2 of the Human Rights Act – the right to life – by failing to abide by their own code and consider whether there was a public interest in prosecuting De Freitas before going ahead with the prosecution.

Deborah Coles, co-director of the charity Inquest, said: “This case raises serious issues of concern regarding the prosecution of rape complainants. In addition, Eleanor had severe mental health issues which do not appear to have been taken into account by the Crown Prosecution Service. There must be robust scrutiny at the inquest to explore how these issues of public interest impacted on her life.”

Adam Pemberton, assistant chief executive of the charity Victim Support, said the “tragic and troubling case” raised broader concerns about the use of private prosecutions against rape complainants.

“We are concerned in principle about someone who has been accused of rape being able to bring a private prosecution against the complainant because this allows that individual to use the law to do something guaranteed to intimidate their accuser,” he said.

For more on this story go to: http://www.theguardian.com/law/2014/nov/06/call-crown-prosecutors-account-suicide-alleged-rape-victim?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

 

Related story:

Eleanor de Freitas’s death shows the CPS has a duty to make humane decisions

By Hugh Muir From The Guardian UK

Alison Saunders is right to investigate the case of De Freitas, who killed herself days before she was due to go on trial accused of lying that she had been raped

Alison Saunders ‘Alison Saunders, realising the gravity of the case, has promised to personally lead the investigation and to meet Eleanor’s relatives. She is right to lead from the front.’ Photograph: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA

After a year in the job, Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, is facing her sternest test yet. Responding to justified public concern about the way police forces and prosecutors up and down the country have been failing to deal with rape cases, she previously pledged to stop the drift and to impose an ethos that could win back public confidence. That task becomes much more difficult today.

The case of Eleanor de Freitas, who killed herself days before she was due to face trial accused of making up a rape allegation, appears to contain all of the components that make the issue of prosecutorial mishandling so explosive.

De Freitas reported the alleged rape to the police, who were unable to build a case sufficient to predict that it would be successful at trial. She was herself vulnerable, suffering from bipolar disorder.

But while that fact might have afforded her some legitimate measure of protection, the weight of the system appears to have been deployed against her. When the case against her alleged attacker was dropped, he apparently spent £200,000 pursuing a private prosecution, which was then taken over – on the public’s behalf – by the Crown Prosecution Service. That seems questionable but there are question marks too about the CPS’s stewardship of the case against De Freitas.

This morning her father David, struggling for composure on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, claimed the CPS failed to disclose in good time material that might have assuaged Eleanor’s fear about the ordeal she would face in court. She was a bright and clever young woman, he said. She had apparently been told by police that there was no evidence that her claim of rape had been fabricated. In the end, the pursuit of her “was soul destroying and it ground her down”, her father said.

Details may yet emerge that reasonably explain the conduct of the prosecuting authorities. Saunders, realising the gravity of the case, has promised to personally lead the investigation and to meet Eleanor’s relatives. She is right to lead from the front.

For the failure of the police and the prosecutorial bureaucracy to develop uniform, humane and effective systems for dealing with rape is a continuing, increasingly visible scandal.

This summer we learned that the number of successful rape prosecutions had dropped after five successive years of increases. In 2007-08, 58% of cases brought to trial were successfully convicted. By 2011-12, that figure had risen to 63%. Since then, it has declined to 60. The number of cases referred to the CPS by the police also fell in 2012-13 despite the number of rapes being reported rising by 30%.

There are good practices, but they are not being evenly applied. With every wave of public anxiety there are improvements and then – when the pressure is off – there is regression. And the victims are women who claim the protection to which they are entitled from egregious assault.

Bureaucracies will always make mistakes. It can never be less than a challenge shaping the system so it is able to respond to the varying needs of individuals. Just today there is the example of the Home Office castigated by business secretary Vince Cable for its plan to deport a vulnerable man with Down’s syndrome to Lebanon.

Bureaucracies elevate the needs of the system above the needs of the individual. That is why those within them need to be constantly reminded that their systems cannot be left to fly on autopilot.

Humans must make humane decisions, and public prosecutors must prosecute reflecting the priorities and common sense of the public. Alison Saunders should reiterate those facts to her subordinates today.

• This article was amended on 7 November to change “her attacker” to “her alleged attacker”.

For more on this story go to: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/07/eleanor-de-freitas-cps-humane-decisions-alison-saunders