The Daily Mail
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Virgil" data-cid="557916" data-time="1455140753"><p>No doubt doing all she can to keep her name suppressed.</p></blockquote>
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It's on the internet now, I think the suppression only applies in the Uk but I'm not sure if the mods want it posted here. -
<p>nah best not to.</p>
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<p>why did she make the accusation?</p>
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<p>Are we sure it was her fault.</p>
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<p>i.e. was it a false accusation per se or were the police at fault for prosecuting the wrong man?</p>
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<p>Mail article says she didn't identify him. Could she have been groped by someone else?</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="jegga" data-cid="557918" data-time="1455141497"><p>It's on the internet now, I think the suppression only applies in the Uk but I'm not sure if the mods want it posted here.</p></blockquote>
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Pretty sure the forum is hosted in the UK, so please don't post any names. -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="557922" data-time="1455142796">
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<p>Gotta feel for the bloke, but really if she wants to go that way, then its time to harden up, lawyer up, and sue the fucking bitch for everything she has</p>
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<p>He cannot.</p> -
<p>is very sad she is allowed name suppression for saying what he did, yet he is dragged through the wringer and named for something he didn't do!</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Baron Silas Greenback" data-cid="557931" data-time="1455145334">
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<p>He cannot.</p>
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<p>Fuck. That was the extent of my legal knowledge.</p>
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<p>Court system is fucked.</p> -
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<p>It's on the internet now, I think the suppression only applies in the Uk but I'm not sure if the mods want it posted here.</p>
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<p>PM Sent</p> -
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<p>Fuck. That was the extent of my legal knowledge.</p>
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<p>Court system is fucked.</p>
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<p>I read quite a compelling argument that it isnt her fault, she may well have been sexually assaulted by someone. It is really the police and prosecutors who decided that it was him and pushed it through against all evidence. Personally I think the people who decided to push the case should all be fired and prosecuted (somehow)</p> -
<p>yeah you gotta wonder why/how they thought they had the evidence to proceed with the case, not only the police but the prosecution, and I would assume he would have applied for name supression, which the Judge would be the one to have denied?</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Baron Silas Greenback" data-cid="557997" data-time="1455170577">
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<p>I read quite a compelling argument that it isnt her fault, she may well have been sexually assaulted by someone. It is really the police and prosecutors who decided that it was him and pushed it through against all evidence. Personally I think the people who decided to push the case should all be fired and prosecuted (somehow)</p>
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<p>Which is what I asked from the get go.</p>
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<p>What does it say about us as a society that the immediate reaction was lying dirty bitch etc etc rather than sympathy that the cops built a dud case against the wrong guy.</p> -
But wouldn't she have input into the CCTV footage? Would she not just say "uh no that's not the incident"? Not trying to say the police are not the ones that should be held accountable, because in the end it is their decision, but I'm not sure she can just just wash her hands of the whole process.
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<p>yeah you'd have to think when she went to them and lay the complaint when it came time to review the CCTV footage she has watched it too and you'd hope someone said, "are you sure, it doesnt look like anything happened there, maybe it wasnt that moment?"</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="No Quarter" data-cid="558342" data-time="1455257452"><p>
But wouldn't she have input into the CCTV footage? Would she not just say "uh no that's not the incident"? Not trying to say the police are not the ones that should he held accountable, because in the end it is their decision, but I'm not sure she can just just wash her hands of the whole process.</p></blockquote>
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Agreed , she must surely have had some input into the investigation . Whoever decided there was enough there to go to trial should be held accountable, I reckon it'd be interesting to look into her past and see if she is a loon with a history of similar complaints . -
<p>It's not clear how much input she had. My interpretation of the article in the Telegraph attached is that she made a complaint about being assaulted by a bald man. She apparently wasn't able to pick him out of a line-up. Doesn't that suggest she only knew it was "someone" but who that someone was was a decision the police came to and the CPS ran with? </p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/12146351/No-one-is-safe-from-prosecutors-terrifying-incompetence-on-sex-crimes.html'>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/12146351/No-one-is-safe-from-prosecutors-terrifying-incompetence-on-sex-crimes.html</a></p>
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<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The Crown Prosecution Service has taken leave of its senses. That is no longer beyond all reasonable doubt. </span></span></p>
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<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">More and more people are now asking if the body charged with prosecuting offenders for their crimes is up to the job following the latest debacle over innocent men falsely accused of sexual assault. </span></p>
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<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">This latest failure is not about the high profile cases involving former Cabinet Ministers, senior military men and celebrities whose lives and reputations are trashed in public but who at least have the opportunity to fight back in the media spotlight. </span></p>
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<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">This is about the far more sinister cases that don’t make the front pages. This is about the men who aren’t rich and famous enough to get to tell their side of the story except to a jury. </span></p>
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<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">It is a 21st century cautionary tale because what happened to him could happen to anyone at any time. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">The man in question is Mark Pearson, a 51-year-old artist and cabinet maker. We know who he is, his age, his occupation and the town where he lives. We even know what he looks like. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">We know all this because <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/12144963/Commuter-who-walked-past-actress-at-Waterloo-station-cleared-of-bizarre-sex-assault-claim.html'>Mark Pearson was accused of sexually assaulting a woman at Waterloo train station on his commute home from work.</a> This made him an alleged sex offender and we all know what that means, don’t we, nudge, nudge? No smoke without fire, eh? </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;"><span><span style="font-family:arial;margin:5px 0px 12px;"><span><span style="color:rgb(102,102,102);margin:0px 5px 0px 0px;">Mr Pearson seen with his right hand on his bag strap on CCTV footage recorded at Waterloo Underground Station at 18:40:24 </span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">His alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is apparently a famous, award-winning actress in her sixties. But her name will never be in the public domain unless she so chooses. Lucky her. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">The actress told the police and the CPS that, during an evening rush hour at Waterloo station in December 2014, a man later identified as Mr Pearson came up to her, smashed down on her shoulder and then pushed his hand up her dress and sexually assaulted her with this fingers before running away when she shouted for help. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">A shocking accusation, I think we can all agree. And certainly one that the police should take seriously and investigate to the full extent of their abilities. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">Which is precisely what they did, checking the CCTV cameras at the station to identify a bald man carrying a bag on his shoulder and a newspaper in his hand walking through the station and passing the alleged assault victim. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;"><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/12146274/Prosecutors-slowed-down-CCTV-in-case-of-commuter-cleared-of-bizarre-sex-assault-on-actress.html'>The only problem was that the CCTV footage showed no assault at all</a>. On the contrary, it showed Mark Pearson walking through the station minding his own business, his hands clearly visible at all times, the right one clutching his shoulder bag strap, his left hand – the one he is supposed to have thrust up the actress’s dress – clearly holding a newspaper. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">He did pass by the alleged victim but – as the footage makes abundantly clear – only for a split second. He also did not break his stride or start running, as she claimed. </span><span style="color:rgb(102,102,102);font-family:arial;font-size:12px;">Mr Pearson seen passing the woman on CCTV footage recorded at Waterloo Underground Station at 18:40:25 </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">There were no witnesses, no forensic evidence and his accuser also failed to pick Mr Pearson out in a police line-up. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">At this point in the investigation, what would you have done? Yes, exactly. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">It was blatantly clear at this point that either the police had got the wrong man or that the alleged victim was wrong, confused or just plain lying about the assault. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">Yet, without a single shred of evidence, the police decided to charge Mr Pearson with a serious sexual assault and the Crown Prosecution Service took the case to court. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">Thus began what Mr Pearson has called a year-long "Kafkaesque nightmare" to clear his name. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">Not surprisingly, after the ordeal of a three day trial, the jury at Blackfriars Crown Court took just 90 minutes to clear Mr Pearson of the charge of “sexual assault by penetrationâ€. Indeed, you have to wonder why they needed more than five minutes to come to that conclusion. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">As Mr Pearson told the court: “I would have had to crouch down, put my hand up the woman’s skirt... penetrate her, take my hand out again... all while holding the newspaper and walking along the concourse. It’s preposterous. I did nothing. One of the many frightening aspects is that this could have happened to anyone.†</span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;"><span><span style="font-family:arial;margin:5px 0px 12px;"><span><span style="color:rgb(102,102,102);margin:0px 5px 0px 0px;">Mr Pearson had passed by the alleged victim by 18:40:26</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">The CPS, in mind-boggling defiance, continues to insist there was “sufficient evidence†for this case to go to trial despite all the evidence to the contrary. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">There is undoubtedly enormous political pressure on the CPS to bring more prosecutions against sex offenders, and specifically more successful prosecutions. Yet, despite more than 5,000 extra rape prosecutions being brought in 2014, the CPS won only 77 extra convictions. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">Again and again we hear of cases coming to court on the flimsiest of grounds when anyone, after a cursory glance at the facts, could see there would be no chance of conviction. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">The Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders, must realise that she is not doing sexual assault victims any favours by bringing cases like Mr Pearson’s to court. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">Victims of rape and sexual assault want sex attackers to be brought to justice, not the pointless persecution of innocent men who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">The question must be asked: is the CPS still fit for purpose? </span></p>
<p style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);"><span style="font-size:12px;">Even on its own absurdly low threshold for evidence, it is abundantly clear that the Crown Prosecution Service is guilty as charged. </span></p>
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