In an condemnatory report, police and Crown Prosecution Service watchdogs have criticised the handling of rape investigations and prosecutions. As part of a joint inspection, they spoke to survivors who had been through the system.
Rape survivors told the authors of the report, which was conducted by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, that they felt disrespected and as though they were the ones who had done something wrong.
“It felt as if they spent most of their time investigating me,” said one. “They didn’t actually investigate anything other than constantly bullying me. They had access to information from the beginning and just wasted time getting it, asking the wrong questions, recording things incorrectly.”
A survivor from a minority ethnic background whose first language is not English told the report that she struggled to understand the information she was being given.
“I thought it was quite inappropriate because there was information passed on to my mum that I didn’t want her to know. It wasn’t done very sensitively. I understood everything I was told, but sometimes my mum withheld information from me to try to protect me. I only found out about it afterwards, but I wish she’d told me at the time because it would have been really useful,” she said.
Explaining why they had decided to withdraw support for a prosecution, some survivors said they were not prepared to wait months or years for their cases to conclude.
“It took a lot longer than I thought it would,” said one. “It impacted on me a lot. I started developing post-traumatic stress disorder. I was very anxious and so unsettled. I was very depressed. I felt as if I couldn’t live my life while waiting for it all to be over.”
Survivors criticised the police for predetermining the outcome of their case from the outset, especially when there was no DNA or physical evidence. Others were disappointed that past allegations against the suspect were not taken into consideration.
“I was furious,” said one. “I feel as if they’d made the decision pretty much as soon as I first walked through the door. I felt as if they’d wasted years of my life for nothing … They didn’t really investigate it at all. They just invited him for a chat, basically.”
