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A woman who was brutally raped has spoken out about a catalogue of “catastrophic” police failures which led to a six-year wait before her attacker was convicted.
Amanda, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, was viciously assaulted by Paul Green on their second date after originally meeting online.
Seriously injured, she immediately fled to the hospital and reported the crime to South Yorkshire Police in 2018.
But her case was closed by the police twice and she was forced to use the ‘Victims’ Right to Review’ procedure four times before the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) agreed to look at the case.
South Yorkshire Police has since apologised for its failings.
Green, who is 50, was jailed for 16 years for rape, assault and two counts of making a person engage in sexual activity without gaining consent in a trial at Sheffield Crown Court. He was also made to sign onto the Sex Offenders Register for life.
A detective who took part in the initial police investigation was found guilty of misconduct and given a written warning last month in the wake of Amanda’s complaints.
Speaking after his conviction, Amanda said: “I have continued to fight this case, accepting the horrific effects of reliving this again and again because I cannot and will not accept for my daughters and all women that this is okay. It is not okay.”
She accused South Yorkshire Police and the CPS of gaslighting her into giving up, instead of confessing to their own failings as she warned their shortcomings have had “catastrophic” repercussions on her.
South Yorkshire Police Detective Chief Inspector Rebecca Hodgman told The Independent: “We are profoundly sorry that following such an horrific ordeal, Amanda subsequently faced a long and difficult process to finally secure justice.”
Ms Hodgman said the force are “steadfastly committed to the continuous improvement” of tackling rape and serious sexual offences but “cases like this demonstrate there is more to be done”.
While a spokesperson for the CPS branded rape a “devastating crime” and Green’s attack on Amanda an “appalling assault”.
Amanda, who was supported by the legal charity, Centre for Women’s Justice, said Green’s attack has had an “overwhelming” impact on her life.
Had any person on the street inflicted the violence and degradation I was subjected to that night there would have been no question as to their guilt. So to understand as long as they rape you too, they can claim you consented to your own abuse horrifies me.
Amanda
“Had any person on the street inflicted the violence and degradation I was subjected to that night there would have been no question as to their guilt,” she said. “So to understand as long as they rape you too, they can claim you consented to your own abuse horrifies me.”
Appearing via video link to read her statement, she said: “He wanted to break me and I am broken.”
Amanda met Green after linking up on a dating website in 2018 – with Green becoming violent and sexually abusive on their second date at his flat.
He raped, threatened, verbally abused, beat and strangled Amanda as well as smearing vomit onto her face among other degrading acts.
Judge Rachael Harrison told Green she was certain he had planned to take advantage of Amanda while she was in a vulnerable position and his violence and “unpleasant, threatening and abusive” behaviour extended “far beyond” anything she consented to.
Amanda fled from Green’s flat after he fell asleep and arrived at hospital with injuries and in severe pain. She immediately told medics and the police about the sexual abuse she had experienced.
Around a year later, it emerged that South Yorkshire Police had closed her case. Although the police acknowledged she endured violence at the hands of Green, they said it would be hard to persuade a jury she had not consented – with this partially attributed to an examination of Green’s electronic devices revealing he wanted to enter into a relationship with Amanda.
Given wider evidence of the increasing normalisation of violence in sex, both in real life and online, it is reassuring that neither the judge nor the jury seem to have accepted Mr Green’s defence that this was an acceptable way to treat a woman.
Kate Ellis
Amanda requested a formal review of this choice which came to the conclusion the case should be handed to the CPS for a charging decision but her case was then yet again closed without ever being referred.
It then emerged the police had misplaced CCTV footage and important documents, with the CPS refusing to prosecute the case twice and Amanda using the ‘Victims’ Right to Review’ procedure four times before they agreed to look at the case.
The first trial of Mr Green led to a hung jury – with him only convicted by a second jury after a re-trial took place.
Kate Ellis, a solicitor from the Centre for Women’s Justice who has represented Amanda since 2019, said: “Given wider evidence of the increasing normalisation of violence in sex, both in real life and online, it is reassuring that neither the judge nor the jury seem to have accepted Mr Green’s defence that this was an acceptable way to treat a woman.”
