The collapsed trial of Liam Allan reveals a widespread problem in the legal system, which criminal defence lawyers have been warning about for some time. Liam was accused of rape and sexual assault, but his defense was that any sexual contact between himself and his former girlfriend was consensual. The Prosecution's case relied heavily on the ex girlfriends account, which is a common situation in sexual assault allegations that often occur in private settings without any independent witnesses.
It took two years from Liam’s arrest for his trial to proceed in the Crown Court. Prior to the trial, his lawyers had repeatedly asked the Prosecution to disclose text and social media messages between Liam and his ex girlfriend from her phone. Despite clear guidelines on disclosure, the officer in charge of the case failed to hand over this potentially useful information to the defence team. It wasn't until the trial started that this material was brought to the attention of the Prosecuting barrister, who ordered it to be handed over immediately. The messages cleared Liam of all charges. His ex girlfriend and accuser had messaged him asking for sexual contact and spoke of a desire for violent sex and rape fantasies. In other messages to friends, she stated that no crime had been committed.
To their credit, the Crown dropped the case as soon as he became aware of this material. It also made a public statement acknowledging "a very serious miscarriage of justice" had only narrowly been avoided.
You can also listen to my interview with Liam on my audio book 'You Are Accused', available on Audible. Click the link in the description or search for 'You are Accused' by Raphael Rowe to get your copy.
‘You Are Accused’ with Raphael Rowe
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