Client Not Guilty of Repeated Sexual Abuse

Case study summary

Our client was accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a child who was fostered by his parents, over 10 years prior. We scrutinised the evidence and highlighted major inconsistencies in her account, resulting in the jury finding him Not Guilty of all counts.

Case study

In March 2021, our client first appeared at the Magistrates' Court, having been charged with abhorrent rape and sexual activity allegations against a vulnerable child, from over 10 years prior. The case was particularly distressing for his entire family as the complainant was someone he grew up with - a young girl who had been fostered by our client's parents.

Our client faced 18 charges in total. It was important to us that we instructed a specialist barrister who had expertise in historic sexual allegations. The allegations were impacted by the passage of time, the fact that our client no longer lived at that address and that many other children had passed through as part of our client's parents fostering work.

Our preparation of the case involved visiting the address, taking photographs, speaking to other foster children and building a picture of what life was like for both our client and the complainant, at the time. We requested the complainant's medical, counselling and foster care records and took statements from family members.

Our client's trial was adjourned several times due to the Covid lockdown and barrister strikes. It was an agonising wait for him and his family since, as a result of the allegations, he was not allowed to see his children unsupervised and his parent's work and reputations also suffered.

By the time trial came around, our client was physically and mentally exhausted from stress. We ensured that the jury were given the full picture of what life was like in the house at the time, rather than the small snapshots the prosecution presented. Our client gave evidence in his own defence and several family members supported him in doing so.

At the conclusion of the trial, the jury found our client not guilty of all counts on the indictment. After over three years of waiting for the case to finish, our client was clearly in shock and overwhelmed. He was able to return to his family and children - something he had started to lose hope would happen. Our client was a family man with no previous convictions and was incredibly grateful for our work and dedication to his case.