Evidence? DI Julian King Don’t Need No Steenkin’ Evidence…

In a letter this month, DI Julian King, of Sapphire, the sexual offences investigation unit, said: “I stand by my decision in that I do not believe that Eleanor should ever have been prosecuted for PCJ [perverting the course of justice].”

And that was based on…?

She (Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions) dismissed the concerns of police officers about pursuing De Freitas for allegedly making up the complaint.

She said the police were not in a position to give a view, as they “never undertook an investigation into the alleged perverting the course of justice nor did they consider all the material provided to us by the private prosecution”.

Oh. Right. Nothing.

Now, readers might find this all rather strange – don’t the CPS usually shy away from prosecuting these ‘poor victims’ at all costs?

In fact, don’t the police usually whine and moan about how hard it is to get the CPS to prosecute anyone..?

The director of public prosecutions said that she was satisfied that her lawyers had taken the necessary steps to assure themselves De Freitas’s mental health problems had been properly considered.

She said medical experts provided by De Freitas’s legal team found that she was fit to stand trial.

“We do not take on these kind of prosecutions lightly, but the medical evidence provided to us could not justify dropping such a serious case,” she said.

Just so. There’s no escaping the fact that the CPS are on the ball (for once) no matter how much the accuser’s family may care to whinge about it:

De Freitas’s father, David, said CPS lawyers had never met or interviewed his daughter about her allegations – and that perhaps explained the discrepancy between their view and that of the rape investigators.

What would that have shown? Did he expect that they too would be unaccountably swayed by the fact that she was young, blonde and pretty, and so shouldn't face any consequences for falsely accusing someone of rape?

He said: “We are disappointed that even in light of the subsequent tragedy, the DPP is digging her heels in and standing by this prosecution. We are disappointed that she does not acknowledge there are lessons to be learnt from what happened to Eleanor.

“The failure to take on lessons has disastrous implications for trust in the Crown Prosecution Service if they are concerned about encouraging rape victims to come forward. I spoke out in the first place because I was concerned that other vulnerable women and their families should not go through what we have been through.”

But clearly not at all concerned about what men falsely accused of this heinous crime can go through.

Victim Support, Justice for Women and the charity Inquest have raised concerns about the decision to prosecute De Freitas.

Well, of course. After all, they seem to be picking losers right across the board lately, so what’s one more?