My BF has been in prison...

[Stubborn9ts]

(sorry if this is long)
My BF of 4 Months has recently told me that when he was a teenager he went to prison for several years for rape against a 19 year old! this happened whilst he was in the Army. He is now 30. He was given a life sentence not so much for the crime itself(even though very serious) but due to a inaccurate pre-sentence report by a psychiatrist, this has since been ruled inadmissible by the courts. He had a number of trials that were dismissed or stopped for various legal reasons.

He says he never did it and was pressured into pleading guilty by his legal team to avoid a life sentence, which he still got!!, He says he pleaded guilty out of fear as he was scared and wasn't able to get his solicitor to do his job so had to cut his losses and go in to damage limitation mode. He had to continue pretending to admit and show remorse for this throughout his prison sentence to get his release. It seems that his legal aid solicitor didn't do much work on the case or go through with the forensic testing he should have done. He has tried recently to get advice - unsuccessfully with a barrister to withdraw his guilty plea.
My BF has a DNA report that shows he is not the person responsible but due to the court of appeal rules this was deemed as available at the trial and can not now be used in appeals. His solicitor never told him about this report! He cannot afford any more legal challenges, financially or emotionally.

He is now on licence in the community and has to carry on as if he did it, as he fears that if he tells probation/police the truth and launches any sort of appeal they might recall him back to prison on a life sentence. His family and small circle of friends are all open and honest about this and very supportive of him. He has moved on and now runs his own successful metal business. It has taken its toll on him, he is cautious in trusting people now and it has left him slightly suspicious of people.

As a result he is automatically on Sex Offenders Register and he has to tell partners about his past, something to do with public protection it seems and something called MAPPA????
I have met his police liason officer who confirmed that i knew why he had been in prison, the police bloke tbh just asked if i knew and didnt go into much depth. Again they just accept he did it as he pleaded guilty without asking themselves if there is more to this or not. He sees probation once a month for all of ten minutes at most, they leave him alone as hes not considered a high risk.

The issue though is on the one hand this very intelligent, thoughtful, nice, quite guy has been to prison for a very serious crime, yet i actually really love him, Some of my friends think i am mad for staying with him. But at the same time he has never hurt me, treated me badly or done anything to cause me to worry. Long term i think we have a future.

What do others make of this? Has anybody else experience of a situation when they find out that a BF has a serious criminal record or been to prison for a sex offence?

YEs..google him. Then run away. He's lying. If you ever want children with him do you think your life will be nice? No it won't. Social Sevices will be involved from the very start.

I have seen the DNA reports, it is from LGC they are/were Government Chemists. I have seen various papers from case failed appeals etc.. i have also seen voice analysis reports and the id parade recording where he wasn't picked. Also his fingerprints were not on the knife that was used and found at scene. the prints were not his, but they couldn't say whose they were.

The psychiatrist said he was remorseless and whilst not having actual pschopathy, the judged jumped on it to give a life sentence. He appealed this the court ruled he wasn't psychopatch and report not worth paper its printed on,- the psychiatrist withdrew his evidence and wouldn't stand behind his report when challenged. but wouldn't change sentence.

His solicitor did not tell him about the DNA report when telling him to plead guilty to avoid a larger sentence, he only found the report when he asked for the papers to look at appeals etc.. it was in amongst them. The court ruled that as his solicitor had it and didn't use it, it can not now be used as they consider it as available at first trial and unused. ( I have seen the court transcript) He tried complaining about his solicitor but got nowhere.

What he is saying and has shown me is backed up by what his family and friends all say, the people in our community all say and think he didn't do it, many of these people have known his family for years,

In terms of kids in the future, it is important to note he has never done anything to make him a risk to kids. The police themselves say he isn't a risk to kids. hes not even on their radar.

Given all this evidence which appears to say he is innocent, then why is he not fighting to clear his name?

These are the things I would be questioning myself, I have no specialism in this area this is just me as a person.

Why was the report deemed inadmissible? for example I believe info gathered in illegal ways would be classed as inadmissible, even though it may be true.

Numbers of trials have been dismissed or stopped due to legal reasons, so legal team good enough for this but not to bring an alleged DNA report which would prove innocence?

What went wrong with the barrister recently?

He cannot afford any more legal challenges, financially or emotionally I do not see how any one would prefer the stigma, police reporting and other agency updating if they were innocent. If innocent I can see this would be awful, but I do not believe you would just drop it.
Maybe he realises he has explored all avenues and legal representatives are saying he has not got a chance?

I have met his police liason officer who confirmed that i knew why he had been in prison
Within my job some teams work with scheduled one offenders, other offenders MAPPA etc (I do not directly), but I have never heard of this being a standard thing to do, it may well be and I have not heard of it, but I would be finding out the facts.

Before going any further I would also find out how this was likely to affect me in the future.

Why would a solicitor advice a client to plead guilty to such an horrendous crime if there was no evidence to say he did it?

I think everyone will tell you to leave him, he is a convicted rapist ( and I agree with them) but I don't think you will listen because you want to believe that he is innocent.

Ask yourself, would you stay with him if you knew without doubt he is guilty? I suspect because you love him you want to believe what he is telling you.

For your own sake, check his story, speak to his police liaison officer and try and establish the details of the case.

Ask your bf about this DNA report and the significance of it, don't blindly accept what he says, try and listen objectively as if he were the boyfriend of a friend or family member not someone you are in love with. Ask him what the evidence was that led him to plead guilty or cause his legal team to "pressure" him to plead guilty. Rape convictions are notoriously hard to secure, there must have been some overwhelming evidence. People don't just plead guilty to rape, they take their chances. Ask about this report that led to the life sentence. What did it say? Ask about every detail of the offence, including alleged injuries to the victim. Ask what his version of events is, what parts he accepts happened, what he disputes. And test everything he says, you need to know what you are potentially dealing with. I know you love him but think of your safety. You need to get hard and wise.

I will now join the chorus of those saying leave him.

When someone confesses to a crime, the police don't just take their word for it. They ask them lots of questions about things they would only know if they were there. They are looking for things that would match what the victim said so he would have to be able to give lots of detail to prove it was him before they would accept his admission.

How could he do that if he wasn't there?

I am sorry but you don't really love him. Its been 16 weeks. You may be with him forever but at this point you do not know enough about him to say you love him.

You say he has recently told you, so he was with you how long before he told you? 12 weeks, 15 weeks? He was seeing you and didn't tell the probation officer who needed to confirm you knew he had been in prison until this point?

How can you say you love someone, when you didn't know about this until recently? He kept it from you.

What happens when you have children? Do you think social services will just let you crack on having kids with a sex offender?

He served 8 years, his tariff was 4 years 10 months. He got the life sentence part based on a flawed psychiatric report which was later withdrawn, This report was enough for the judge to put him in the dangerous offender category. the judge could then give a life sentence.
I have known him for about 2 years. His family much longer.

He's on the sex offenders register, he'll be on social services radar as soon as you are pregnant.

That's irrelevant, though. He's pieced together a half-assed story.

If his solicitor advised him to plead guilty, the prosecution must have had enough evidence that they were almost certain to get a conviction. Have you seen that? What evidence was there that he did it?

It is incredibly difficult to get a conviction for rape, let alone a life sentence.

Also, being remorseless can increase your sentence, but it isn't enough to get a life sentence on it's own, according to the CPS guidelines. That's why it didn't matter that the psychiatrist changed his mind - he got the life sentence for pre-planning the rape, using violence over and above that necessary to commit the offence, kidnapping his victim, knowingly spreading an STD...

Why isn't he fighting to clear his name?

Do you have your own children?

If there was a DNA report to show he was not responsible that the court was aware at the time of the trial but he was still convicted ?what evidence was there? i mean there must have still been a lot of evidence.
is he saying the only evidence that he was convicted on was a psychiatry report (that has been ruled inadmissable)? this sounds completely untrue

It all sounds v unlikely sorry, plus there must have been tremendous reasons for him to make up this story to keep the support of his family.

The difficult thing is you have to decide if he really did it? If he had done it, and then been to prison, served his time and been remorseful that is a different man to one who still denies he did it, but did it, and has been lying his way to being on licence. I'd be very wary of either man.

I have seen the DNA reports, it is from LGC they are/were Government Chemists. I have seen various papers from case failed appeals etc.. i have also seen voice analysis reports and the id parade recording where he wasn't picked. Also his fingerprints were not on the knife that was used and found at scene. the prints were not his, but they couldn't say whose they were

What was the evidenced used for the CPS to agree to taking it to Court, and for the legal system to find guilty?

What do you want people to say op?
90% of rape trials end in a not guilty verdict. You are convinced that your bf, who was convicted and got a life sentence, is innocent based on what he has told you. That he is in the 10% found guilty purely due to incompetent lawyers and psychiatrists. That he is not actually a psychopath.
But the courts, the police, probation, the jury, the judge, say otherwise. They say he is guilty. They say his crime was so bad he got a life sentence.
Either you are are very gullible, or you like the drama of it all, or you have such low self esteem you can't believe you can do better.
As a sex offender, if you did have kids they would likely be on a child protection register, they could be taken away, etc etc it's a long list of aggravation.

You do not have a bright future with this man.

Has he admitted to you that he was there, OP, or does he say he had no part in it at all and knows nothing about it?

He has tried to appeal, but due to the court of appeal saying the forensics were available at first trial he can now use it for an appeal. its a quirk of the justice system.
He and his barrister who i met have said that if he tries another appeal he could run the risk of probation recalling him back to prison as it could indicate increased risk. unless he can get new/fresh evidence he cant appeal, he also has to be cast iron sure of winning or run risk of being recalled to prison. He spoke to barrister about revoking is guilty plea so that the records show he says he didnt do it but barrister adivsed it is near impossible to do and is extremely rare to succeed. There is only a few cases of people succeeding.

He is telling you what the weaknesses in the case were (and there are always some, life isn't like csi) you need to know what the strengths were. What led him to be arrested, why prosecute him, why did he plead guilty??!!! Nobody but nobody is going to plead guilty to rape with no evidence. Ask what he said in his police interview.

This DNA report...what did it actually say?

He's got an answer for everything hasn't he?

Whatever we say on here, you sound like your mind is set.

You must do what you think best.

Why are you not all over this, googling, talking to police etc?

Wanting to believe him is normal, none of us like to believe we would be taken in by a serious sex offender.

Stop this now, while you aren't so invested.

For your own sake acknowledge that if you carry on being with him you are having a relationship with a serious sex offender, don't kid yourself that he is innocent.
Regardless what he is forced says.

He needs to sort this out and I suggest you walk away until he does. If he doesn't take any further action to clear his name I think you'll have his answer.

IF it is true that his solicitor had DNA evidence proving his innocence and didn't use it, he could sue the solicitor for damages. He could then use his damages to overturn his conviction.

The only way I'd remain with a man like this would be on an agreed break until he took some serious action toward proving his innocence.

I'd be willing to bet 99% of released rapists tell the same story of miscarriages of justice and of course contesting it just being too difficult.

You are a fool.

Here we go. The aggravating factors that lead to a life sentence for rape - two or more must be present:

• Severe physical harm
• Pregnancy as a consequence of the rape
• Knowingly spreading an STI/STD
• Abduction
• Sustained incident
• Violence beyond that necessary to carry out the rape, such as stabbing
• Forced/uninvited entry into the victim's home
• Victim is vulnerable due to personal circumstances and was deliberately targeted for this reason (eg victim is under 13).

This must be teamed with at least one of the following:

• A significant degree of planning
• Offender works together with others to commit the offence
• Previous violence or attacks against the same victim
• Recording of the offence
• Commercial exploitation
• Offence was motivated by hostility towards victim based on race, sexual orientation, disability.
• Previous convictions for similar offences
• Offence committed while on bail

Once a life sentence has been decided, the judge can increase the minimum amount to be served based on:

• Dangerousness of offender
• Timing and location of the offence
• Presence of children during the assault
• Blackmail
• Concealment or attempted concealment of evidence

'A quirk in the justice system'.
Bollocks.
Yes you can't appeal without fresh evidence. But DNA evidence proving he didn't do it was ignored at the first trial? Yeah right.