Is this Slander?

[biggerboat]

Hi, Can anyone advise if this is slander in this scenario.
I work in a University in a mentor role and this is a situation a student is in.
A year ago before they were studying at the institution Student A, reported Student B to the Police for sexual assault. It never got past the investigation stage as Student A decided not to pursue it after some thought.
So no charges etc. Student A has now told other students at the uni that Student B assaulted them. This has caused problems for Student B who categorically denies the accusation.
If no charges were brought etc. Does this mean Student A is slandering B? (Which is what is being levelled at A by B.
Thank you for reading. I hope this makes sense

It is only slander if it is not true.

One person says it's true, the other denies it. There's no way of knowing though

I believe slander isn’t a criminal offence but a civil wrong. Therefore the person who feels that untruths are being told about them to their detriment would have to 1) sue the person making the statements and 2) prove that those statements are untrue. I think they might also have to show some loss/ damage. But a google of English law in this area or a textbook would give a more accurate answer than my (very) general knowledge!

Thank you. I see. So, Student A is free to keep saying their truth and it's up to B to somehow prove their innocence.

Either way telling other people that someone is a sexual deviant is very questionable.

This should be escalated to seniors as there could be a particularly nasty fall out for a number of reasons

Also it should be ascertained that this person did go to the police in the first place as they don’t necessarily need As permission to prosecute B - how does anyone know the true facts?

I think if student A decided not to go ahead with anything they shouldn't really be spreading things about another student, especially as there's no guilty / not guilty part, it's essentially they said vs they said.

I also thought in the UK it's the police who decide whether to prosecute or not via the CPS - not the person who made the complaint (like in America where you can press charges or not) - the police could have continued to investigate if they wanted to prosecute / thought there was enough evidence to.

No the burden of proof in defamation law would be on the defendant (to show that the statement was true). The claimant need not show falsehood but does needs to show they suffered financial loss however.

If you are considering going down the path of defamation note it's a pretty high bar and extremely expensive. Sledgehammer to crack a nut so not a proportionate option.

Surely this can be dealt with by senior people in the institution instead?

Also they would need to take it court themselves. This is a civil matter.

I believe Student A changed their mind very early on in the process and therefore not much to go on for the Police

Thank you. It is being dealt with by the safeguarding team. I'm asking so I can get this clear for myself to help my mentee (not to dispense legal advice obviously- I wouldn't be negligent)

You are correct that the burden of proof is on A to prove the allegations are true and not on B to prove they are untrue.

You are incorrect however to say that B needs to show financial loss. Imputation of a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment is an exception to this requirement under the defamation act.

You are also correct that taking action for slander is a fools game and a quick way for things to get out of hand quickly and cost yourself a lot of money!

There has been quite a recent example of this Oliver v Duffy

www.casemine.com/judgement/uk/670d64068e274d7b5b69b46a/amp

Interesting. Of course if there is any truth in the allegations, then the girl spreading them may be sparing other girls from abuse or at least putting them on notice to be wary.

Years ago pre internet when I was at university, the toilet walls in the Ladies were covered in warnings about male students to be wary of.

I'd be very careful here, depending on the nature of the assault (ie. Sexual?) it was far from unusual for a victim to withdraw from police investigation. This then leaves the perpetrator with a fantastic opportunity to plead innocence and place blame on the victim for 'telling lies'

This could, of course, be nothing like that scenario but it feels like the belief here is Student A is a liar, without any possibility the assault may have actually happened.

In which case OP, just avoid any discussion about defamation or slander. It will confuse the matter and will likely inflame emotions. It's best deal with the way it currently is being dealt with.

You also don't know if it's true or not... you can support your mentee in other ways without finding ways to 'get at' the accuser.

The criminal burden of proof (beyond reasonable doubt) is a much higher threshold than the civil one (on the balance of probabilities).

It’s entirely possible for a criminal prosecution to be dropped, but to still meet the civil burden (which is “is it more likely than not”).

So it might not be defamatory even if they dropped the criminal allegation.

Where the allegation in a defamation case is of criminal conduct the courts have held that the standard is close to the criminal burden. So not 51% as you are suggesting but more like 90-95% so this doesn’t help much.

Thank you everyone for your input

I'm not thinking/completely convinced that student A is spreading falsehoods. I genuinely (obviously) don't know what the truth is. I wanted to educate myself so that I can help calm matters as much as I am able. Of course it's entirely possible student A didn't want to relive the trauma via a criminal prosecution- that is on my mind.

Or sue them for defamation but it's expensive and difficult

The other options are for the college to deal with this as a disciplinary issue against A or as they are doing here a safeguarding issue relating to both A and B.

Even as the mentor of B, I don’t think the OP should be inserting herself into this process as it’s clearly a very delicate situation and should be handled by impartial parties not anyone with a role in supporting either A or B professionally.

Not sure if this might fall under harassment? Causing alarm & distress by actions. Just a thought. If it were me & someone was spreading untrue damaging rumours I would be speaking to a solicitor and the police, ask them to record the behaviour.