Benjamin Mendy Case - Our Client's Case Dropped by CPS

Case study summary

Our client was accused of offences involving three women. His case was linked to allegations against Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy. After proactive representation by us at the police station and direct with the investigating officer, all three cases were dropped.

Case study

Our client was a 26-year-old French national living in Manchester. After providing a witness statement to assist the police with an investigation into sexual assault allegations against footballer Benjamin Mendy, he himself was investigated for rape.

Police appeared keen to see our client charged and convicted. They tried on three occasions to put a case together against our client, and failed in each attempt.

He was arrested and interviewed in October 2021 and represented by a duty solicitor for rape. That solicitor put forward a prepared statement on his behalf, despite the complainant saying she could not recall what happened. After this interview, he was released under investigation, but decided to find new lawyers. He then contacted our firm to represent him.

Our client was interviewed again in November 2021 for alleged perverting the course of justice. The allegation was that he had intimidated a witness by sending threatening messages which resulted in her losing her job. This time, one of our specialist sexual offences solicitors attended this interview. Having received our advice, he made no comment to all questions.

Two months later, he was arrested for a third time, now for conspiracy to rape. The evidence against him was weak and it became clear that there were obvious holes in complainant's account.

We emphasised on the record that the evidence against our client in these cases was weak, and we were able to persuade the police to drop all three investigations.

Throughout the investigation, our client had not been allowed to travel home to visit his family in France. As soon as the case was dropped, he was able to book the first flight back to visit them and carry on with his life.