Thatcher joins in row over rape fine

Press, 21 January 1982, Page 6

Thatcher joins in row over rape fine

NZPA staff correspondent London The British Prime Minister (Mrs Margaret Thatcher) yesterday joined the row over the treatment of rape victims when she backed the view of the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Lane, that most rapists should go to jail. “It is absolutely vital that women should have confidence in the ability of the law to protect them against this violent, detestable, and odious crime,” she told the House of Commons. Mrs Thatcher also said she shared concern about the way the police handled a rape interview in a documentary shown on 8.8. C. television. The row over the treatment of rapists and their victims was sparked off by the £2OOO (about $4600) fine handed out by a judge to a 33-year-old businessman. The man had raped a 17-year-old girl after giving her a lift in his car. The judge’s comment that she had been guilty of “contributory negligence”

brought a storm of protests from members of Parliament, women’s organisations, and editorial writers. The Lord Chief Justice said that all rapists should go to jail unless there were “wholly exceptional circumstances.” His comments were made after a statement by the Lord Chancellor. Lord Hailsham, that he totally disagreed that the rape victim was guilty of “contributory negligence.” The row flared again this week when millions of TV viewers saw a woman being interviewed by the Thames Valley police after she complained she had been raped by three men. It was the third part of a series made by the 8.8. C. in which a camera crew followed the Thames Valley police in their daily work.Last week viewers saw a detective constable break down and cry when a senior officer told him he was being transferred back to the uniform branch because his

work as a detective was not up to scratch. The same man was one of the three detectives shown interviewing the woman in this week’s episode. At one point he told her: “Some of it is the biggest load of bollocks I have ever heard." The series has been made with the co-operation of Thames Valley police and the agreement of the people shown being interviewed. But a Thames Valley police spokesman said after the rape interview was shown: “I-must say this is one episode we would rather have kept out of.” And today the Thames Valley assistant chief constable, John Reddingtou, accused the three officers who interviewed the woman of "hectoring and bullying.” He said: “My reactions were total disappointment at the way the case was handled. It was inept." Viewers saw the woman — whose face was not shown — being asked intimate questions about her sex life and

mental and physical state, the police were sceptical about the woman, who had a history of mental illness and difficulties with the police. She admitted that her boyfriend had persuaded her to go to the police. At one point a detective sergeant told her bluntly: “I think you were a willing party to it.” After further interrogation, a detective asked: “Now do you or do you not want to make a complaint of rape?” The woman replied: “No I don’t.” But she still maintained she had been raped arid told the 8.8. C. camera crew she could now understand why women did not want to pursue complaints of rape. A Thames Valley police spokesman said: “What she got was a fairly severe grilling, but it was nbthing to what she would have got from a. Q.C. in the Crown Court who also knew the background to what was going on.” He agreed that a “more sympathetic .approach” might have been better, but

commented: “This was not a normal allegation of rape. The police desperately want people to come and complain if someone has been raped.” The Thames Valley police have now announced they are considering setting up special units. including women, to deal with rape complaints. The “Daily Mail” reported that only 37 of the 76 rapes reported to Thames Valley police last year were recorded as crimes. The other 39 complaints were listed as “unsubstantiated.” ■ But the assistant chief constable, Mr Reddingtori, while criticising the way the police handled the interview, said many cases of alleged rape were not rape at all. In one case an innocent man had been arrested as a suspected rapist because a girl who reported herself raped had lied. “For .36 hours my officers worked flat out,” he said. “We believed her initially.” But during further ques-

tioning she had confessed she made up the story to punish her boyfriend for not seeing her home. The innocent man was arrested because he fitted a description given by the girl. Peter Fiddick, writing in the “Guardian,” said: “For the police, one of the main problems of a rape case is to make it stand up in court. “They need a witness who will stick by a story, and some conviction themselves that it is true. “But almost everything (in the TV programme) seemed aimed at breaking the woman’s story down. Wrecking her confidence in herself, and in the end at fairly positively guiding her towards giving up the complaint and going quietly.” Women’s organisations yesterday hit out angrily at the police treatment of the woman. “We’re shocked and disgusted.” a spokeswoman for the Women against Violence agaipst Women group said.