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?

I don't believe a word of this.

OP I think a million of us could tell you to walk away but you won't.
It sounds like he has convinced you and you believe him.
I'd suggest you do a little of your own research into the law and you may find that what he is saying does not add up and it's not that easy to be convicted of such a serious crime!
.. Whatever 'cover up' he says happened.
I hope you are not in the UK because wherever this happened according to your dear boyfriend the criminal justice system is full of mickymouse law and anything goes

This sounds like someone is trying to write a Jodie Piccoult-style novel- or is that just me?

There have been many serious miscarriages of justice and no doubt the late Stefan Kiszko would consider the UK criminal justice system to be full of "mickeymouse law and anything goes" as it certainly was in his case.

I'm a criminal solicitor.

The story does not add up. Not even close. I'm not even going to pick up on all the individual holes, but I will comment on the 3 attempts at a trial. Even if this happened (and it would be staggeringly rare), no solicitor would advise a guilty plea at the 3rd attempt if they hadn't advised such a plea at the first two, unless, of course, new evidence came to light that was utterly damning.

And if the complainant gave such exonerating evidence at the first trial, his legal team would have been shouting it from the rooftops, not going 'meh, have you considered pleading guilty?'

The story makes absolutely no sense. And when stories like this make no sense, it's generally because they're not true. The truth tends to be straightforward. Lies always involve layers of explanation and inexplicable oddities. It's amazing how many clients come to me with bizarre stories, with lots of 'I just can't explain it, I know it's odd, but that's what happened,'

Walk away, OP.

He's telling you a load of bollocks and you are a fool for sticking with him.

Open your eyes to the reality

Op- you still haven't said if you have children and if they've been allowed to meet him etc. That would be my greatest worry.

Also, what do you nearest and dearest think of him?

Also, out of interest, how did you meet this catch of a man?

I don't know if you're hanging on because he's potentially 'the one', but I honestly believe that there is someone out there who would be far better for you, and will live a far less troubled life with you.
Get out quick.

But at the same time he has never hurt me, treated me badly or done anything to cause me to worry

It's only been 4 months.

I would walk away.

I've worked with MAPPA sex offenders. Funny things none of them are ever guilty. Please OP walk away. I've sat on too many child protection panels and that's where you'll end up if you have children with this man. Walk away. No scrap that. Bloody run.

Op, mumsnet isn't the place for this, you will get little sympathy here.
Some people have the idea that if you are found guilty then you must be guilty.
There are many miscarriages of justice in the UK and there are several groups that may assist in clearing his name if he is innocent.

Google 'miscarriages of Justice' and some come up.

Walk away and raise your standards. Seriously someone like this should make you dump him without a second thought.

OP, I am sorry you think you love a man who is a rapist. I loved my boyfriend after two months and that turned out to be true and he loved me back. Been together nearly 20 years. The love part isn't the issue. There are millions of men in the world. Why would you stay with someone even with a sniff of trouble? And rape is a pretty big bit of trouble.

Finish it. For your own and your future children's safety and well being.

MN is not very supportive of convicted rapists, thankfully.

Stefan Kiszko was an innocent man found guilty of rape and a murder of a girl. He was set up. Some policemen knew he was innocent but let him be convicted.
I expect he told people he was innocent too.

I realise that miscarrriages of justice have happened before, but for that to be the case here absolutely everyone except your BF would have to be wrong, incompetent or lying ... that includes the police, the CPS, solicitor, barristers, probation officers, the psychiatrist and presumably whoever oversaw the first two trials. You might also want to include those on here who have experience in this field and have said his explanations as you've related them are senseless

Which do you think is most likely - that all these people are wrong, or that the BF is himself lying?

Of course there will be innocent people convicted, as there will be guilty people set free.

I'd still err on the side of caution.

I don't think this is his girlfriend. I think it's him.

Whatever. You can't fish for sympathy and understanding on here. If there is a real case to be argued for a miscarriage of justice then don't waste your time asking us what we think, get on and work towards clearing his/your name.

If you are not preapred to do that then no one will taken your protestations of innocence seriously.

Pretty irresponsible advice, Pacxtecu.

If op was a member of your family, would you be telling her 'Mr Convicted Rapist seems like a nice guy, he could be innocent. You make a lovely couple.... I don't think so.

And how many wrongly convicted have a barrister, who after reading every single word has told them to shut up or go back inside?

If he was truly innocent the barrister would be doing everything to clear his name.

If his family believed his innocence they would have been campaigning for the past 11 years to clear his name.

No one is fighting for his name to be cleared

Ask yourself why.

What breadmaker said!

So the victim said it wasn't him, there was DNA evidence that proved it wasn't him, and yet somehow, after two trials had been discontinued, he still decided to plead guilty. I am really struggling to believe what he is saying. What evidence was there that made him decide that a guilty plea was his only option, because from what you have said here there was no evidence against him, and yet he still entered a guilty plea, why. or is he telling you a pack of lies???

paxtecum is correct about organisations who may help with genuine injustices, which begs the question of why he's not approached any of them?? Given his glib "explanations" of the court proceedings he's obviously not inarticulate, and after all he's had plenty of time in the years since the conviction

And what about the family who are supposed to believe him? If that was my close relative I'd have moved heaven and earth to find someone who'd help ... again, why hasn't this been done??

Who needs such shit?