The Topsy-Turvy World of 2020

I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.

I was hoping to start 2020 on a positive note, looking forward to making progress with the reform of our dysfunctional criminal ‘justice’ system and a return to common sense over the way in which the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) handle the investigation of rape and sexual assault complaints. Sadly, however, it seems that the words above – by G. K. Chesterton – are more grimly appropriate in view of a series of recent events that are already spreading a sense of gloom over even the most optimistic of those of us who campaign to raise awareness of false allegations and on behalf of those suffering as a result of miscarriages of justice.

Nothing like a dame: Alison Saunders

The first blow of the new year came with the truly appalling (and incomprehensible) decision to award Alison Saunders, the former Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the high honour and distinction of an 'Order of the Bath' damehood in the New Year’s Honours List. While it is customary for an outgoing DPP to receive a knighthood or similar award, the conferring of one upon this particular individual can be seen only as a grossly disrespectful slap in the face for all those of us who suffered – and continue to suffer – as a direct result of the disgraceful and deeply unjust prosecution policies over which Ms Saunders (I will never bring myself to use her undeserved title) presided from 2013 until 2018.

While I acknowledge that the foundations of the descent of the CPS into the realms of ideologically-skewed gender politics were laid by an equally awful predecessor, Keir Starmer – of whom more later – Ms Saunders not only entrenched Starmer's utterly unjust ‘you WILL be believed’ dogma in respect of sexual allegations into daily practice, but she also championed such toxic policies with great enthusiasm. Her deeply ingrained view on so-called ‘social justice’, in fact, created hundreds, perhaps thousands, of true victims: those who have been falsely and maliciously accused of heinous sexual offences that never actually took place.

Encouraged by the ideological climate within the CPS, the ludicrous ‘you WILL be believed’ dogma gave police detectives licence to abandon the basic rules of policing – to investigate thoroughly without fear or favour – in pretty much every case of a sexual complaint. The most transparent lies and blatant inconsistencies in complainants’ statements were ignored, or else attributed to ‘trauma’. The most elementary detective work, such as confirming whether a former pupil, who was subsequently accusing a teacher of historical sexual abuse, had actually been a pupil at the same school at the same time as his target, were brushed aside and ignored. Highly relevant evidence, such as social media messages and phone texts sent by complainants, were at best not passed to defendants’ legal teams or, in the worst cases, actively concealed by police officers and prosecutors.

Keir Starmer: ex-DPP

Predictably, terrible miscarriages of justice occurred on Ms Saunders’ watch, just as they did under Keir Starmer’s. Innocent people – mainly men – were dragged through the courts; others were wrongfully convicted of the most appalling sexual crimes by juries on the balance of probability, in the absence of any actual evidence. Branded as perverted criminals and, in most cases, jailed for years, even decades, their lives, careers and reputations, as well as the lives of their families, including young children, were utterly ruined.

Even those of us who were falsely accused, and then either swiftly acquitted or never charged, faced the usual social media opprobrium and the inevitable ending of our careers. Some innocent victims have been driven to suicide by malicious accusations, very often made by evil chancers solely in the hope of being awarded undeserved monetary compensation for assaults that existed nowhere but in the warped imaginations of the liars and fraudsters themselves. Yet Ms Saunders and her like-minded cronies would have us believe that these imposters and perjurers were genuine victims and witnesses of truth. In the aftermath of Operation Midland, we all know where this blinkered approach led and the wicked injustices that have ensued.

Carl Beech: he was 'believed'

Convicted serial rape liar and fraudster Carl Beech truly is the poster boy for the consequences of indiscriminate 'believing’ within our criminal justice system, as promoted by Mr Starmer and Ms Saunders. Beech committed his crimes, but the legal and policing policies which enabled him were the work of ideologically-inspired politicians and bureaucrats.

As more and more appalling cases of false sexual allegations have come to light, the pressure on the CPS increased to boiling point. It was clear to just about everyone (other than the most rabid of the gender warrior cultists) that Alison Saunders had to go. Her clear inability to manage the crisis, let alone abandon the toxic policies that had created it, led virtually every national newspaper to demand she fall on her sword. Like so many others, I grew weary of seeing her increasingly sour and petulant attempts to defend her toxic legacy. Her formal departure from the post came as a relief.

And now this final example of how the powers-that-be decided to cock a snook at the CPS’ many innocent victims and, wider public opinion, by this disgraceful display of cronyism. If any unmerited award of state honours has ever brought the entire system into disrepute, then this is it.

Devalued: Order of the Bath

It is a mark of the deep revulsion over the conferring of this title upon Ms Saunders that so many of the CPS’ innocent victims have raised their voices in protest. We have witnessed the anguish of people such as student Liam Allan and teacher Kato Harris, whose lives have been turned upside down by false sexual allegations. What an absolute slap in their faces this damehood represents. It’s as if the establishment is determined to make it clear to everyone that those who campaign against false allegations, inept policing and wrongful convictions are of no account. Liam, for example, has repeatedly been sidelined or ignored by politicians and civil servants, despite it being his terrible ordeal that raised public awareness of the scandal surrounding the withholding of key evidence - such as phone and message records - from defendants’ legal teams. By speaking out and continuing to campaign, he is performing a great public service.

If Ms Saunders had the merest shred of public decency she would have quietly declined the offer of this high profile honour and retreated into well deserved obscurity.  It is of no surprise she did not. Her shamelessness and utter lack of repentance are shocking.

And as if that were not enough, 2020 has already delivered further blows. We have learned this week that it seems entirely likely that Ms Saunders’ predecessor as DPP – Keir Starmer (another ‘knight’ who shall not be addressed as such by me) – will be installed as the new leader of the Labour Party. So, we may have a new Leader of the Opposition who played a major role in institutionalising injustice within our criminal ‘justice’ system with his edict to all police forces that complainants of sexual abuse, whether present day of historical, must be BELIEVED automatically. How utterly misguided to make such a preposterous statement.

Cyprus: mobbed on social media

Finally, we are being treated to the unedifying spectacle of one of Britain’s oldest allies – Cyprus – being pilloried in both the national media and online for the heinous ‘crime’ of daring to prosecute a young British woman who has been accused – and who apparently confessed – of falsely accusing a group of underage boys and young men of gang rape. Her conviction for ‘creating mischief’, which could see her jailed for up to twelve months and facing a fine, has been adopted as a rallying cry by those who seemingly cannot accept that ANY woman could ever make up a claim of rape.

There is now a vociferous (and at times blatantly racist) campaign to boycott Cyprus – a member of the Commonwealth  – as a holiday destination, as a direct result of the court’s verdict in her case. Social media is abuzz with incendiary hashtags and examples of the sort of ‘mobbing’ that goes on whenever people who have no direct knowledge of an issue jump onto a fashionable bandwagon. Needless to observe, the fact that the boys and young men who were accused of rape happened to be Israeli citizens has brought the usual vile anti-Semitic slurs to the surface.

I don’t know whether the young woman in question is innocent or guilty of telling lies. Equally, I don’t know if the Cypriot legal system (which is based on the British model) is any better or fairer than our own. Indeed, there may be legitimate criticisms made and an appeal against the verdict is pending. She may be cleared by a higher court. However, I do believe that this tawdry affair reveals much about the cultish mindset of a very vocal minority who are patently willing to damage our long-standing strategic relationship with Cyprus in order to ‘punish’ an entire country, including trying to destroy the livelihoods of many Cypriots by wrecking the country's tourist industry, because an independent court handed down a verdict that has offended the ‘you WILL be believed’ cultists on social media and beyond.

Protesters targeting Cyprus

Some seem convinced that any court verdict (especially if abroad) can simply be reversed or quashed if enough vocal activists scream and shout loudly enough. This misguided campaign, shamefully promoted by certain national newspapers, appears to have all the hallmarks of ignorance and arrogance, mixed with racism and with a dash of old fashioned gunboat imperialism thrown in for good measure.

In part, at least, I believe that this current hoo-ha is being orchestrated deliberately by narrow, ideologically-motivated interest groups who are determined to intimidate anyone who dares to question the very fact that false sexual allegations ARE made. In today’s Britain we have become inured to the steadfast refusal of the police to investigate, and the CPS to prosecute, almost anyone who makes bogus sexual accusations, even where trials of defendants have collapsed due to compelling evidence of perjury or when convictions have been quashed after a complainant's lies have been exposed.

As those of us who have direct experience of being falsely accused know only too well, the vast majority of liars and fraudsters simply get away with the human devastation they have inflicted, just as long as their lies are sexual in nature. They even get to keep any compensation they have extorted from their victims, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority or corporate insurers. When other countries, such as Cyprus, take a much harder line over bogus sexual allegations and seek to bring suspected false accusers to justice, the self-righteous mob engages in a feeding frenzy of hatred and denigration. It is a sad reflection of what those of us who campaign to raise public awareness of the false allegations industry face on a day-to-day basis. Welcome to 2020.