Rape accused to be given anonymity

[Gender Male]

Men accused of rape are to be granted the same anonymity rights as
their alleged victims under a major change in the law.
By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor

The coalition Government yesterday pledged to extend the current ban
on identifying victims in rape cases to defendants as well.
It would mean only those convicted of rape would ever be named but the
controversial move last night split opinion.

Rape support groups said it was an "insult" that would discourage
victims from reporting attacks but those have been falsely accused
welcomed the decision as long overdue.
The pledge was included in the Government's detailed coalition
agreement which also revealed plans for a complete review of
sentencing policy, raising the prospect of an end to short term prison
sentences.
It also pledged to give anonymity to teachers facing accusations of
assault or other offences by their own pupils.
It comes amid concerns careers are ruined by staff who are victims of
malicious and false allegation from their students.
Officials last night refused to give further details on how the rape
defendant ban would work but victims are currently afforded protection
for life from the moment they report a rape.
There has been growing pressure to change the law for defendants amid
claims false allegations ruin the lives of innocent people.
The Liberal Democrats changed their policy in 2006 to advocate giving
defendants in rape cases anonymity.
The change was approved at the party's annual conference that year,
which came just a week after the case of Warren Blackwell, 36, who was
falsely accused of a sex attack by a 'serial liar' who had a history
of crying rape.
Mr Blackwell spent more than three years in jail and was put on the
Sex Offender Register, but his conviction was quashed by the Appeal
Court.
Christine Hamilton and her husband Neil, the former Tory minister,
were arrested in 2001 because of false sexual assault claims by Nadine
Milroy-Sloan. No charges were ever brought and Milroy-Sloan was later
jailed for three years for perverting the course of justice.
Mrs Hamilton said: "Both Neil and I would clearly welcome this move
and is something we have said all along should happen.
"The stigma sticks with you in a rape case and creates complete and
utter havoc. It can destroy lives."
Solicitor Neil Freeman last year represented Lewis Linford, a former
star of the soap opera Emmerdale who was cleared at Hull Crown Court
of groping a woman at a nightclub.
Mr Freeman, who is also known as "Mr Loophole" for helping television
personalities beat motoring charges, said false claims can have a
"potentially life destroying" effect on the accused and their
families.
He added: "This is about protecting the innocent not the guilty."
But Ruth Hall, of Women Against Rape, said: "If men accused of rape
got special rights to anonymity, it would reinforce the misconception
that lots of women who report rape are lying.
"False rape allegations are extremely rare, but receive
disproportionate publicity.
"Of course, being wrongly accused is a terrible ordeal but the same
can be said of being wrongly accused of murder, theft, fraud or any
other serious offence."
Both defendants and victims in rape cases were granted anonymity in
1976 but the right was removed for the former in 1988.
In her review of rape and the criminal justice system published in
March, Lady Stern refused to recommend any change on current anonymity
rights until more research was carried out in to the scale of false
allegations.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "This is a sensitive area and
careful analysis of the options and implications will be undertaken.”
Yesterday's document also unveiled plans for a "fell review of
sentencing policy" within the criminal justice system.
That could include examining proposals by the Liberal Democrats to
scrap jail sentences of six months or less.

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