Secret policy change by CPS cut number of rape trials, high court told

Application on behalf of women’s group follows concern over fall in number of charges Owen Bowcott and Caelainn Barr  The Guardian  Tue 17 Mar 2020 A legal challenge over alleged changes to Crown Prosecution Service policy on bringing charges in rape cases has been dismissed by the high court. The judges, Dame Victoria Sharp, president of the Queen’s Bench …

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Keir Starmer’s record on rape

Keir Starmer’s record on rape Camden New Journal  Letters  6 February 2020 The record on rape We take issue with the letter from MARTIN PLAUT of NW5 (‘Errors in attacks on Starmer’, January 30). He claims that rape “is one of the issues [Sir Keir] feels most strongly about and has worked on most assiduously. His determination has been …

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Cyprus rape case: on the day before sentencing Women Against Rape points to similar outrageous cases in the UK

Cyprus rape case: on the day before sentencing Women Against Rape points to similar outrageous casesin the UK We share the outrage of women in Cyprus protesting against the conviction of a 19-year-old British woman who faces prison after reporting gang rape by 12 Israeli men in Ayia Napa. We welcome the UK government’s concern at the …

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Press: Landmark rape case brought by Kentish Town campaigners is turned into a play

Landmark rape case brought by Kentish Town campaigners is turned into a play Bridget Galton Lisa Longstaff of Women Against Rape and Niki Adams of the English Collective of Prostitutes outside Crossroads Women’s Centrein Kentish Town where they are based – Credit: Archant In 1995 Women Against Rape and the English Collective of Prostitutes joined …

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Our response to Guardian report showing a significant fall in prosecutions in England and Wales

Our response to Guardian report showing a significant fall in prosecutions in England and Wales Revealed: collapse in rape cases that end up in court, 27 July 2019 • It is shocking that after decades of campaigning by women and repeated official claims that scandals like Savile, Worboys and Rotherham are things of the past, we …

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New report on military abuse

On Monday 15 July, the World at One on BBC Radio 4, considered a newly published official report They also interview Donna, a survivor of serious sexual assault in the British Army who has worked with WAR for several years. Listen to the report by logging onto BBC Iplayer, find the programme and then skip …

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New police disclosure consent forms

Update: See Lisa Longstaff of WAR interviewed on SKY News, 1 May 2019 Good account by anon survivor who went through three trials: Giving my phone to police after my rape left me in limbo feeling violated And another survivor’s account: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/29/sexual-assault-case-dropped-refused-police-phone-rape Also, see good article by Dawn Foster here: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/29/rape-victims-phones-police-guidelines WAR’s comment: There’s a …

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Met Police disbanding specialist Sapphire rape units

Met Police disbanding specialist Sapphire rape units Met Police ‘risking a new Worboys’ after secretly disbanding its sex crime unit • The Met set up the Sapphire unit after a series of failures in high-profile cases • But sex crime detectives are being reassigned to small teams in the 32 boroughs • Campaigners fear a …

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Press: Kicked while Im already down’: the child sexual assault victim denied compensation over a petty crime.

Kim Mitchell went to police threee times before they believed her Ms K was raped repeatedly by two adult men when she was 13. As an adult she finally found the courage to report it, identifying the men. The investigation is ongoing. One of the men is in prison for sexual offences against other children. …

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