I need people to hear my side and accept I am innocent (Life destroyed after false rape accusation)

The Northern Echo (U.K.) ^ | September 15, 2008

[Stoat]

 

I need people to hear my side and accept I am innocent

8:08am Monday 15th September 2008

Following a false rape accusation against him, Terry Harrison was remanded in custody and spent months trying to clear his name. Catherine Priestley reports.

TERRY HARRISON lost his home, had his freedom curtailed and rarely saw his two daughters while under police investigation.

The 34-year-old missed family birthdays and a funeral and turned to alcohol and sleeping pills because of the ordeal.

He said: “It was hell. I felt lower than low and at times I honestly felt like killing myself.

“Now it is over I need people to hear my side and accept I am innocent.”

After seeing his accuser jailed for perverting the course of justice last week, Mr Harrison said he is finally starting to rebuild his life.

Shirley Prince, a 42-yearold single mother from Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, said she was raped by Mr Harrison during a house party in May last year.

She later admitted perverting the course of justice and was jailed for three months when she appeared at Durham Crown Court on Tuesday.

Mr Harrison, also from Newton Aycliffe, said: “I know people who have been devastated by rape. It is just one of the worst crimes I could imagine and something I would never do.”

While police investigated the complaint, Mr Harrison was required to live in a hostel in Middlesbrough for five months because the conditions of his bail prevented him from entering Newton Aycliffe.

He lost the tenancy on his rented home in Booth Walk, Newton Aycliffe, and says the burden of the case led him to breach his bail conditions.

He said: “I kept expecting it to be over, I thought she would tell the truth or police would drop it when they found no DNA, but it went on and on.

“I was going insane with the accusations going round my head, being away from my home town and friends and family.

“There was just me and four walls most of the time, I felt I was being punished for something I hadn’t done, so I admit I broke my bail conditions. I went out when I shouldn’t and came back to Aycliffe.

“I wanted people to listen and believe me and one night lost my temper and sent a text message saying I’d kill someone. I never meant it literally, but was prosecuted for witness intimidation.

“I was put in Holme House Prison (in Stockton) with paedophiles and rapists, even some of the prisoners there hated me because they knew I was accused of rape, which is just one step down from murder.”

Five months after the initial complaint, Mr Harrison was told the rape charge had been dropped.

He said: “It was hard to be elated.

“It took a few days to sink in and relax but I still had the witness intimidation case which stemmed from it.

“It is a full year later and finally it is over, she has been prosecuted and I was bound over to keep the peace for a year.

“I am slowly getting my confidence back and starting to hold my head up again. I am rebuilding relationships with my oldest daughter and girlfriend and hope to get my life back to where it was before this.”

Detective Superintendent Andy Reddick, of Durham Police, said: “We investigate thoroughly any rape allegation and have the highest detection rate in the country.

“Occasionally false allegations are made, not always maliciously, but for all sorts of reasons.

“We think lots of rapes on women and men go unreported, so have to reassure victims if they come to us they will be treated sensitively. I am satisfied that we will investigate fully to get to the truth.”

Mr Harrison said: “What I went through was dreadful. I cannot believe how long the lies went on.

“But I also know that crying rape can also harm genuine victims who are scared of not being believed.

[Stoat]

Also:

'I was spat at in street' Man falsely accused of rape tells of his 11 months of hell Mail Online

'I was going insane with the accusations going round my head, being away from my home town and friends and family.
 

'The law should definitely be changed, it's not right that innocent men are named and shamed for something they haven't done.

'Men guilty of rape deserve everything they get, but I didn't deserve it.'

Terry also fell victim to vigilantes while under police investigation.
 

He said: 'I was spat at in the street, I had my windows put through and my house was  burgled.  
 

'I just wanted to be believed but with a case like this people judge you to be guilty until proven innocent.
 

****************************************************

A FR thread from 2006:

Great Britain Be sure of women's consent or face rape trial, men told

****************************************************

A different case from the USA in 2005:

Woman Faces Perjury Charges After Men Jailed In Bogus Attacks (Every single guy's worst nightmare)

[submarinerswife]

read for later

[Popman]

Well, what did he expect?

All men are pigs. Even though he didn't rape her, he probably leered at her

( Deep sarcasm )

[Maverick68]

When a woman maliciously and falsely accuses a man of rape, she should face the same punishment as the man she has falsely accused.

[VeniVidiVici]

This guy got more time than the woman did and he didn’t do anything!

[Secret Agent Man]

Can’t this guy sue the women who obviously lied about this? this is serious sh1t. I’d bankrupt her.

[Mogollon]

Yep. And the false accuser in the Duke case is still walking around free as a bird.

[Stoat]

Can’t this guy sue the women who obviously lied about this? this is serious sh1t. I’d bankrupt her.

I apologize, I'm no expert on Crown Law.  Perhaps our friend Manc from the UK would know?

[Mark]

And then there is Al Sharpton.

[Popman]

This sort of crap happens all the time in the USA, all sorts of accusations of abuse verbal or physical that are completely bogus or over inflated

My son has two felonies on his record for throwing beer bottles at his girl friend, he didn't hit her, not even close, but he was charged with throwing a deadly missile.

Oh, he did it because his girlfriend pushed him down their stairs because he won't go get her a soda at the store

Cops never even believed him for a moment

[Secret Agent Man]

I don’t really know either, but there’s got to be some kind of protection for people who have been knowlignly falsely accused by someone of a crime. Otherwise people would be getting away with it all the time (or trying to). There has to be some kind of fear of the law that prevents people from destroying the lives of others, and forcing them to be accountable for this.

[Stoat]

....there’s got to be some kind of protection for people who have been knowlignly falsely accused by someone of a crime.

Agreed, there certainly should be but apparently, at least for Mr. Harrison, there was not.  He was driven to the brink of the abyss by this and had no one that he could turn to and apparently no advocate.  He was, apparently, completely alone.

There has to be some kind of fear of the law that prevents people from destroying the lives of others

Malicious, evil women have been emboldened by decades of shrill militant feminism which has also tilted the law FAR to one side in such matters as this.

[NittanyLion]

Detective Superintendent Andy Reddick, of Durham Police, said: “We investigate thoroughly any rape allegation and have the highest detection rate in the country.

Remind me to stay out of all places named Durham...

[TChad]

The only thing unusual about this case is that the woman was actually prosecuted. How many years in prison did Crystal Gail Magnum receive for her false accusations of rape in the Duke LAX case? Zero years, zero months, zero days. Welcome to feminist morality.

The law should definitely be changed, it's not right that innocent men are named and shamed for something they haven't done.

Dream on.

[Stoat]

Well, what did he expect?

All men are pigs. Even though he didn't rape her, he probably leered at her

( Deep sarcasm )

Some of the most unkind thing have been said to me after I've held a door open for a woman at a public place or extended a simple courtesy to a woman.  But then again I am in Seattle, home of the University of Washington which was (I seem to recall) the first University in the nation to offer degree programs in "women's studies".  A huge number of the bitter, shrill, man-hating and shrewish women who wanted to become "Dr. Bitch" have gravitated to this region.

"sigh"

So, I'm rather accustomed to being thought of as a pig before a woman gets within 500 feet of me.

Well, what did he expect?

All men are pigs. Even though he didn't rape her, he probably leered at her

( Deep sarcasm )

[Stoat]

When a woman maliciously and falsely accuses a man of rape, she should face the same punishment as the man she has falsely accused.

I think that I'd like to live in the world where that is the norm.

[bobby.223]

ah yes the liberal cesspool known as seattle.

[Stoat]

ah yes the liberal cesspool known as seattle.

It's a pretty place to visit for a short while but I wouldn't recommend it as a permanent residence to normal, healthy families or heterosexual, Capitalist gentlemen.

 

ah yes the liberal cesspool known as seattle.

[Stoat]

This guy got more time than the woman did and he didn’t do anything!

And when she gets out of her THREE MONTH incarceration, she will most likely be the toast of militant feminist Britain, who will invite her on speaking engagements and line her up for a book deal.  I have no doubt that the BBC would be delighted to do a special program on her terrible ordeal at the hands of the evil, misogynistic legal system.

[Mr. K]

Some people go on to lead productive lives after rape accusations, even going on to become President of the United States