This Is What We Offer As British 'Justice'

I have just read about the appalling case of David Bryant, a 66-year-old retired fireman who was falsely accused of historical abuse by some compulsive liar called Danny Day (who has waived his right to anonymity, so I am free to name him). This opportunist is the latest to take advantage of the 'guilty until proven innocent' approach to justice which our once widely respected police force and judiciary have adopted since Jimmy Savile's death.

Mr. Bryant's nightmare is about as bad as it gets. For full details you can read the excellent account by Matthew Scott on his Barristerblogger website (click here).

Most right minded people will be shocked by what happened to Mr. Bryant. However, this appalling miscarriage of justice comes of little surprise to anyone who has first hand experience of being targeted by some greedy, lying misfit.

I have lost all faith in British justice with regard to historical abuse 'investigations'. Why? Because so little investigation takes place. The police start with an assumption of guilt and then set about fitting any 'evidence' they find to that end. Anything they come across which isn't compatible with their preconceived conclusions about what took place, they simply ignore.

Via their 'trawling' method in so called investigations they basically advertise for anybody who would like to add their own complaint to the ones they already have. In my case, they used a successful businessman, who is unhealthily obsessed by the whole tawdry topic, to advertise on their behalf. I quote from a Facebook page he controlled:

'Simon Warr's trial has been postponed until October 13th 2014 but the police have asked me to inform you that they are still open for statements.' 

And this is what we offer as British justice.

The police work hand-in-hand with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and yet the CPS was established in 1986 precisely to ensure innocent defendants could not be railroaded by the police into Court. Is it not too much to ask that the police operate independently of the prosecution and defence teams and investigate alleged crimes fairly and with a balanced, open mind?

Such is the police support, even encouragement, of a complainant that when they subsequently ascertain that the complainant was telling them a pack of lies, as happened in my own case, they cannot take steps to prosecute the liar without compromising themselves. So the liar gets off scot-free and almost always remains anonymous, despite the fact he or she has committed what can only be described as a most heinous crime.

Meanwhile the falsely accused, the target of their appalling lies, has his or her life - and certainly career - ruined forever. And this is what we offer as British justice.

I dread to think of the number of (usually) white, elderly, formerly prosperous men who are in prison or have served sentences for an historic crime, or crimes, of which they are innocent. What do we expect when even judges are failing to alert juries that they must never convict on prejudice alone, that real evidence is required? They rarely, if ever, tell juries that the complainants stand to get their hands on a substantial amount of money if they are believed, in most cases far more money than they could ever have dreamed of. Are we to think that tens of thousands of pounds in compensation money will never tempt some liar to make a false allegation? And all this is what we offer as British justice.

What the police cannot prove via quality evidence, i.e. proving the offence or offences actually took place, they make up for in quantity. And it doesn't matter a jot whether or not the various complainants have had ample opportunity to discuss between themselves details of what they are going to allege. Yet still these separate allegations, deriving from multiple complainants, are treated as if they are all uncontaminated and spontaneous. And this is what we offer as British justice.

Everyone wants to see those who abuse children, whether recently or many years ago, punished. But in their unintelligent, illogical modus operandi of automatically believing all complainants, the police are wasting valuable resources which should be being used to target real offenders. At the same time they are casting doubt in the minds of the public about the complaints of genuinely abused people who step forward. And this is not just in any society.