‘No means no and that is all there is to it'
Last updated at 13:59, Monday, 05 July 2010
Leyla Ibrahim was convicted of perverting the course of justice by a jury at Carlisle Crown Court after she sparked one of the city’s biggest manhunts by telling police she had been sexually assaulted on a Stanwix footpath.
A £150,000 investigation, involving 80 officers in the early stages, revealed there had been no attack.
The injuries she said were caused by two youths knocking her to the ground then carrying out a sexual assault were self inflicted.
Four men had been arrested then subjected to invasive and intimate examinations.
One was so distressed he tried to self-harm.
Once it became clear that Ibrahim was not telling the truth the Crown Prosecution Service decided to press charges – which she denied.
The jury heard she had wanted to worry friends who left her to walk home alone after a night out.
Ibrahim, 22, of Deer Park Road in Stanwix, has been warned she faces a substantial jail term.
The CPS and Cumbria Constabulary knew there may be repercussions if the case went to court and could risk deterring victims from contacting police.
But after lengthy deliberations it was agreed the prosecution had to go ahead.
Police and lawyers hoped that instead of causing fear of not being believed, the facts surrounding the prosecution would make people realise how seriously allegations of sexual assault are taken .
Solicitor Linda Vance is the county’s violence against women co-ordinator and Cumbria CPS’s rape expert.
She told the News & Star: “It was not a decision we took lightly and it wasn’t taken with a view to punishment or retribution, we looked at this clinically and in terms of evidence.
“Then we looked at the public interest – in the circumstances it would have been difficult to agree that the public interest did not require a prosecution.
“Four young men had their liberty taken away from them.
“We are dealing with a small community, people know each other and we had to think about the effect on these men and their families.
“We also had to look at the wider community and the effect something like this would have.
“It may have stopped people in a similar situation coming forward but we felt this was balanced by the fact that the case shows how much care is taken in these investigations.”
Detective Sergeant Peter Proud, of Carlisle CID, helped run the investigation.
He says each time evidence which disproved one of Ibrahim’s claims came to light, she was given the opportunity to explain it.
No satisfactory answers were given and there was a build-up of serious doubt. Eventually it became conclusive.
One of the key discoveries was the revelation that her clothes had been cut with scissors rather than torn.
Another was expert testimony that cuts on Ibrahim’s knees could not have been sustained by being pushed over, as she had claimed.
However, the marks did tally with the blade of the scissors which had been used to cut her clothes.
Various other holes in her story became apparent and police took the evidence to the CPS to discuss what to do next.
Both the CPS and police say Ibrahim’s incarceration is not a victory, it’s just justice.
And the only way to put the public’s minds at rest. If the matter had been quietly dropped residents would have thought the men were still at large or harboured suspicions about those who had been arrested.
DS Proud says he wished the charge had not been necessary and added: “I hope it’s not something we ever have to do again.”
The police and CPS would like women, and men, to consider how Ibrahim came to be prosecuted.
It was the dedication to catching the fictitious attackers that led to her lies being uncovered and they hope that will provide reassurance for anyone who has a genuine complaint.
Over the last three years the way serious sexual assaults on women or men are investigated has been standardised across the county and the uniform approach appears to be making a difference.
In 2006/7 24 there were 24 prosecutions with a success rate of 45 per cent.
Last year there were 30 prosecutions and a 66 per cent success rate, although the CPS realises that these numbers represent just a fraction of the sexual assaults that actually take place.
Every time an allegation is made strict protocol and home office guidance is followed.
Former detective Kate Rowley is the major crime unit administrator and she remembers a very different way of working.
“Thirty years ago we used to examine victims in A&E and the perpetrators were examined in the cells,” she said. “There was no DNA testing, fingerprints took three weeks to come back and there was no offence of rape within marriage. We would carry out three- or four-hour interviews with women immediately after they had been raped.”
Now the process is almost unrecognisable from the previous approach.
The police officer who has the initial contact will be a first responder, someone who has been taught how to help victims of sexual assault. Then a specially trained officer will step in, usually working on the case under senior colleagues until its conclusion.
They will take the victim to an examination centre where they will be seen by a force medical examiner.
In-depth interviews have to wait until the victim is ready and they are carried out by specifically instructed officers.
Suspects are not interviewed by the same officers, they are questioned by those who have been trained to deliver a different type of questioning. But the basic facts have to be gathered immediately because of the ‘golden hour’ forensics teams are up against.
If there is any physical evidence at the scene of the crime, or on the offender, it’s not likely to stay there long.
Aside from the investigation itself, great efforts are made to support the victim.
Independent Sexual Violence Advisors are there to guide women, or men, through the justice system.
The ISVAs are brought in by police and paid for by the Government but they are not Cumbria Constabulary staff so have no role to play in gathering facts.
Mrs Rowley explained that officers receive training to dispel myths, stereotypes and presumptions, such as the expectation that if a rape has taken place, there should be injuries to prove it.
Part of the course teaches officers that many women freeze during an attack and can remain frozen when it’s over.
Another main message is that there is no typical way for victims to deal with their ordeal. Mrs Rowley remembers one woman who was laughing when she came into a police station to report a rape – because hysteria had taken over.
Never assume, and drop any prejudice, is the crux of the course.
Mrs Rowley said: “Every rape or sexual assault is different and every woman is different. We’re not looking for particular injuries or reactions what we do is piece together what’s happened, step by step.
“It doesn’t matter what you were wearing, it doesn’t matter if you were back at his flat. No means no and that is all there is to it.”
Other sources of support and advice: West Cumbria Rape Crisis 01900 829729; Cumbria Victim Support 0845 241 1832; and SafetyNet 01228 515 859.
First published at 11:23, Monday, 05 July 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
