Client Accused of Raping Girlfriend - Police Drop Case

Case study summary

Our client was falsely accused of raping his girlfriend at a house party. He was a 19-year-old aspiring police officer and the allegation could have ruined his life and future career. We provided our expert legal advice ahead of his interview and the police dropped the case.

Case study

Our client was a 19-year-old aspiring police officer. In July 2022, he had invited his friends and his girlfriend to his house for a party his whilst his parents were away. Almost three months later, his girlfriend reported him to the police for rape.

On the evening of the party, our client's girlfriend stated that she had been drinking alcohol and had taken a drug overdose. She went to the bathroom to throw up when a male entered the bathroom and raped her. Later on that evening, she had consensual sex with our client twice. However, in the following days, the female had been thinking about the night of the party and suspected that she had been raped by our client whilst she was throwing up in the bathroom. She decided to report him to the police in October 2022.

Our client denied the allegation. He explained that he had started dating his girlfriend in April/May 2022. He invited her to his house for a party in July 2022 and they had sex twice, once in the evening and once in the morning. However, on each occasion, they had sex in a bed and his girlfriend consented. They did not have sex in the bathroom. Around September 2022, our client did not think that the relationship was working and he was trying to end it. He believed that his girlfriend retaliated by accusing him of rape.

Our client's father contacted us because we had previously represented his friend for a separate matter. He explained that his son was 19-years-old, had no previous convictions and had applied to be a police officer. A false allegation like this could ruin his son's life and future career so he asked for our help. We then contacted his son who confirmed that he wanted us to represent him at his upcoming police interview.

During the interview, one of our specialist sexual assault lawyers reviewed the initial disclosure which was provided by the interviewing officer. He then asked questions to test the strength of the evidence and provided our client with his advice for the interview.

The police dropped the case six weeks later and our client was relieved. He is now able to continue with his future career path.