Does anyone have any experience of claiming criminal injury compensation for an historical sexual assault claim? Trigger warning.

[Skeroooerrat]

Hi all
I'm sure like many woman the weeks events have triggered me enormously. I was held in a flat against my will in 1992 when I was 14 and seriously sexually assaulted over a 6 hour period and threatened with weopons. I escaped, the police were called and I was then interviewed by police until 8am until my parents were called.
29 years later I have a diagnosis of PTSD and despite emdr I continue to get flash backs and cry uncontrollably when I remember the sheer terror. I cannot get insurance on my mortgage due to my diagnosis and struggle to work full time, although I do.
I have contacted a personal claims lawyer who has said I have a case but need my crime reference number which I have been told i will need to apply for a freedom of information something or rather.
Does anyone have any experience of this, especially self representation?
Many thanks.

So sorry to hear about your awful experience. The only thing I can add is that I was severely assaulted by my then partner, and the police arrested him. I had PTSD, and just functioned as much as I could for me and my child. Two and a half years later, I found out about criminal compensation, and I contacted them only to be told similar to you. I contacted the police and was told it would cost me £1,000 for them to find my data. Then I realised I could do it via Freedom of information, and then realised that the police didn't record a statement. So, no. I got nothing from the police re information as they didn't do their job and closed the matter without resolution. Hence no way of going forward.

As far as I can see, you have a high hill to climb, as police record keeping is rubbish, especially re crimes against women, so - for what it's worth - you need trauma counselling. Which is expensive. The system is just not working for women. Sadly. Take care of yourself.

cica-criminal-injury-uk.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=ads&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhJeZkfqw7wIV74FQBh00CwnJEAAYASAAEgI0XvD_BwE

www.gov.uk/claim-compensation-criminal-injury/make-claim

Sorry, I didn’t realise the above was linked to a solicitor- here is the gov info xx

Yes I did, he even got not guilty in court and I still got the compensation I got £11,000. Even the police don’t know why he never got convicted there was evidence and everything but hardly any rape cases get convicted it’s awful. So he’s still out there now. It was very straightforward I emailed the officer in charge of the case and gave me all the details.
Hope your okay

Oh forgot to say it wasn’t historical though, it was only about 2 years later if that makes a difference

You don't need a FOI request anymore I believe - a GDPR request should suffice. That's usually free to request. If you don't have a printer, request a hard copy. If you can't leave the house to buy postage and post, then request someone on your local mutual aid group to do so/or a family member. You can fill out any hard copy forms, and request them to be posted, but often solicitors have e-forms. You can get apps like Tiny Scanner or else there's a way to PDF documents easily on iphone - you'd have to google for whatever type of phone you have (essentially you take a photo with your phone and there's a way to convert it into a pdf file).
If you're mobile, all of the above is probably irrelevant.

Hi @Chloxox - did you report the crime 2 years after it happened or did you report immediately and the investigation took 2 years prior to you claiming?

I have, it was a historical case - abuser pleaded guilty. But I had applied shortly after sentencing so references we had, it was a very straight simple and forward process for me and received just over £16k. Sorry for your experiences.

Sorry to hear what happened to you. From memory, I think there is a cut off date from applying after the incident has been reported to the police. Good luck with it all OP.

I applied shortly after the court case but ignored all the letters after they offered compensation because I couldn't cope with it (too traumatised to deal with it and felt like it was payment for being raped). When I eventually contacted them they said I was out of time so the compensation offer had been rescinded. I appealed with a letter from a mental health professional explaining why I ignored all the letters and they gave me the original compensation offer. If there's a reason why it has taken you so long to apply then they can waive the time limit.