False or flawed allegations
Saturday, 26 April 2014
False or flawed allegations. I've spoken and written a lot about false allegations since it happened to me 14 years ago. But I don't think I've ever been specific enough or gone into detail about the dangers.

One of the things that irritates many of my friends and supporters is that I won't condemn false accusers by saying they are all after money.

Certainly, in my experience, that was not the case.

Yes, some were inspired or motivated by greed for cash - one, who visited my house around 50 times between the ages of 16 and 19, admitted to a questioner that it was the media interview fees and compensation monies that motived him.

But he also said to Jon Ronson in a TV interview that he'd thoroughly enjoyed himself.

And there, I believe, lies much of the problem. Memory plays tricks on people. The passage of time combines with the changes in morality to affect peoples' recollections.

What we wanted to do at 17 we may look back on and wonder why.

And as our memories change, so do our attitudes towards it.

It's very easy and totally understandable to want to blame others or events beyond our control for our failures or disappointments.

Sometimes our younger selves should have a lot to answer for but that's not a comfortable route for the older, experienced person to take.

Bombarded as we are by media telling us what is right NOW and what was wrong back THEN and how we should judge the behaviour of yesterday by the morality of today.

Given all that and all the differences in society woven by time, it is a mistake to condemn false accusers as greedy liars intentionally bending the truth for cash.

The people we should be condemning are the individual police, CPS, judges, prosecutors and media who, often innocently, allow miscarriages of justice to take place for one reason only.

Because they are good stories.