Date:    12-02-94 15:31 (Public)
 From:    Brad Meyers
 Subject: UK "law" goes wrong again
=================================================================

From: etldlcs@etlxdmx.ericsson.se (Dan Chalmers)
Date: 1 Dec 1994 14:15:50 GMT

What with Spanner, and 50-odd cops raiding "Club Whiplash" on some 
kind of "licencing breach", the CJB, and all the other stuff I don't 
think many of us need convincing the law in the UK is more than a 
little mad, but I just found this in "The Times" (Conservative 
broadsheet newspaper, not bought by me) which is absolutely 
disgusting, but I thought people here might be interested....    
(Article included in full).

*****

"Jury throws out student rape case" By Emma Wilkins
p3, "The Times", 1st December 1994
 An art student was cleared of raping a 20-year-old girl
yesterday after a court
was told of her interest in rubber clothing and body-piercing.
 Ben Emerson, 21, from Loughborough, Leicestershire, wept
as the jury found him
not guilty before hearing the case for his defence. They took just two minutes
to reach their verdict after Judge Appleby, QC, asked if they needed to hear
more evidence after the prosecution had set out its case.
 Mr Emerson, who denied raping the girl in January this year, later condemned
the decision to bring the prosecution. "It was a political
experiment and it went
wrong," he said. Leicester Crown Court heard that Mr Emerson met the girl in a
Loughborough nightclub and later returned to her home, where she took off her
rubber skirt and allowed him to massage her back with baby oil. The girl, who
is a student, kept a riding crop by her bed and had intimate parts of her body
pierced, the court was told. Carl Gaskell, for the prosecution, said she had
peculiar sexual habits, but was still entitled to say no to
sexual intercourse.
 After the massage, the pair fell asleep on teh bed, but she awoke later to
find Mr Emerson on top of her. She told the court she became upset and said:
"Do you understand what you've done to me?" He said "Yes", she claimed.
 "I said: 'Do you understand that this could be taken to
court and that I would
win?' He said 'Yes' to that as well." She repoted the alleged attack nine days
later, after seeking advice from a student advice centre. Mr Emerson allegedly
told police: "I know I had sex with her without consent. I
know what I have done
is wrong. I don't like myself."
 But Judge Appleby told the jury: "You are in charge of this case and you are
entitled at this stage to say whether you have heared enough and could not
conceivably convict him of rape." He remided them that the girl and Mr Emerson
had had oral sex without her objecting.
 The alleged victim was not in court to hear the verdict.

*****

Sorry it's a bit long, but I didn't want to be accused of prejudicial editing.
Don't know about the editing at the Times mind you, but I don't have them down
as that sympathetic to us "wierd folks". Still, I think they've spotted some
dodgy "justice" here too. I don't think I need to say any more?

If I can find somewhere sane to live, I'm outta here.
Dan
Brighton, England