False allegations- prosecuting perpetrators

[MissiHoolie]

In the last 3 months our family life has been torn apart after my DH's ex made malicious false allegations against him.

He faced a police investigation and possible arrest because of them. If he had been arrested that would have affected his career, as it would have shown up on a CRB.
The police eventually found the allegations had no substance and closed the case without even interviewing him.

Social services have been involved, who stopped his eldest DC from seeing him/us, it's now over 3 months since he saw the child. That LA social work dept is now subject to formal complaint due to the shoddy way the conducted the investigation.

Social services came to investigate our DC (different LA)and home life, which was terrifying, happily though our social workers eventually dismissed the allegations. The allegations if they had been believed would have meant DH would have had to leave our home. If in that scenario I had let DH see our DC, social services could have started care proceedings for our DC.

As a result of this I have been off sick with stress for over 2 months jeopardising my employment at this time of recession. I have been put on medication. I have been very very unwell but tried to keep myself together for the sake of our DC and my DH.

Our DC has be prevented from seeing their half sibling for 3 months, our DC is only 3.
DH's eldest DC has had her whole paternal family cut out of life, which must have caused considerable distress as they are very close to dad, half sibling, myself and grand parents. Both DH and I are very worried for eldest DC wellbeing.

DH is a wreck and has had to go on medication to help him cope.

We will be attending our 4th court hearing shortly.

I am very angry of the terrible harm and disruption these entirely false allegations have caused.
Is it possible to have the perpetrator prosecuted for this?

How can it be just for someone to lie through their teeth, nearly destroy entirely innocent peoples lives, for their own selfish purposes...

TIA

I have been in your situation - although no where near as damaging.

I asked the police about this and they said they don't bother and that they would always investigate any claims the person made in the future because that is their duty (which is fair enough) but it makes me so angry that they do not follow up malicious, false, made up allegations. What is there to stop this person doing it again?

If the Police had enough material available to show the complaint was malicious then the ex could be dealt with. It could even be harassment.

I would be careful of dragging it up again though because if the ex is a malicious sort, there will likely be more accusations to follow.

its very common with break ups/ex's etc....

unless they are repeated and obvious,then no prosecution can come of it as they are 'genuine concerns'....i myself reported my ex to ss,it was investigated,ruled out,but threw up something else....i'd had an inkling.

Believe it or not, the police do not collect any statistics relating to potential incidences of False Allegations! In fact, they do not even keep any statistics of all and any cases of suspected cases of false allegations/wasting police time which they have referred on to the CPS!!!!! Furthermore, the CPS do not keep any statistics relating to potential cases of false allegations which have been brought to their attention! And so on, and so on......

I once asked a DA unit sergeant why this was the case. His reply?

"If the general public were aware of the scale of the problem it would open a can of worms up, which we just have not got the resources to deal with".

Just one of the many disreputable reasons why Family Law Courts sit in secret.

arfarfa, all incidents that are reported to the police are recorded. Even if a crime was recorded and then found to be a "no crime" after investigation, then a record of that still exists. Intelligence is gathered regarding false allegers.

Am so sorry to read this.
MN has this better safe than sorry attitude to concerns police/ss. Most threads people suggest you report any concerns to police /ss.
the devastation that this casues is of minimal importance.
But you have MY sympathy.

scurryfunge-All incidents which are reported to the police are, indeed, recorded. The recording, however, only works one way. i.e. as a potential case of DA; NEVER as a potential false allegation of DA.
99.99% of DA allegations are either marked as 'NFA'(no further action) or, sadly in only a minority of cases, investigated and referred to the CPS for possible prosecution of DA. In other words, there are no recordings of potential false allegations. None. At all! If you don't believe me, then send an FOI request in to your local force, asking for data appertaining to the detection, recording and referral for prosecution to the CPS of suspected instances of false allegations of DA. I guarantee that the response will be that they do not collect such data, and that it is therefore too expensive to agree to your request.
Once an allegation of DA has been made, and even if the police believe it to be completely and utterly baseless, it remains on the record of the (potentially falsely) accused. This is where it becomes increasingly hard to believe. The record is, if requested, passed on to CAFCASS. They have to take it at face value and, on a 'better safe than sorry' basis, advise the court that there may be concerns, and therefore they cannot endorse unsupervised contact with any children involved. So, on the basis of an allegation which is unsubstantiated, not even investigated and merely the word of one person against another, the whole system balances.

Oblomov-Not sure what you mean by "...of minimal importance"? To whom? You?

I'm sure there are procedures, there are for people that falsely accuse men of rape....including sentencing. Probably as hard to prove as it is to prove when someone has actually done it.

Really sorry to hear this, perhaps a civil suit(sp?) would help, if you have the money, this way you can claim damages. Seems to me though to be able to do this you have to be rich and if you're rich you don't need the money!

Have to say the damage the EX has caused to her own children is shocking.

I can see that all allegations remain recorded but so do the "no further actions", "insufficient evidences" andthe "no crimes",especially where Domestic Abuse is involved. No crime means that crime did not take place.

There is plenty of intelligence that the police record relating to false allegations. They will not collate the statistics but the information is there.

scurryfunge-If the information is there, and recently a member of the House of Lords was informed in a written reply that it is NOT, then it is certainly not collated in any way which makes it either accessible for scrutiny to members of the public, or indeed remotely available for inclusion within any form of empirical analysis.
Which actually makes it about as much use as a chocolate teapot!

smallwhitecat-I take on board your point re the feasibility of police routinely investigating all complaints, but there must surely be some balance attached to that situation? If there is a strong argument that all allegations of DA should not be routinely and thoroughly screened for voracity, then there must surely also be an expectation that police records should not carry the indelible imprint of any such allegations UNLESS they have actually been investigated?

gorrendous for you op...but hold yur head up high as has been proven unfounded....she surely looks bad in this not you or H.

in ths op#s case it has been investigated and proved unfounded. so at a relvant court hearing this would be mentioned.

so who would look bad? presumably the ex, if the judge has any sense.

thanks cestlavielife
I will hold my head up high once this is done
btw I have read what you have gone through with your ex for a while. He sounds absolutely horrid. I am sorry I have not replied on your threads. For what its worth, you have my admiration for how you have dealt with your horrid situation.

Thanks for help from others too.

In my experience, Complaints against social workers are not handled fairly and efficiently.

The social workers tend to be untruthful and try to drag the complaint out, and have no consideration for the long term health and well being of the children nor for the long term health of the Parents.
If you are unhappy with the first response to the complaint, take it to the next level of the complaints process.