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It was an idyllic summer’s day at the flower show on the edge of the New Forest. The parish church was filled with blooms and the village roads were busy with visitors’ cars.
A male traffic warden and a female special constable began chatting: he about his diabetes, she about her car.
What happened next over an invitation for an innocent cup of tea led to a 14-year ordeal for the woman constable, who accused the man of rape, that ended only last week.
Anthony Hunt, the traffic warden, claims she said he should “come round for one”.
He was jailed for raping her, but when his conviction was quashed on a legal technicality he tried to sue her for £300,000 in a landmark case.
This weekend the woman called him a “beast” after three senior judges threw out his legal action in the High Court.
The woman can be referred to only as AB to protect her identity but she is being hailed as a champion of women’s rights even though court costs devoured her life savings.
“Angry isn’t a strong enough word for how I feel about him,” she told The Sunday Times in an exclusive interview.
“He maintained his intimidation of me, right from the onset. This was a war of attrition that went on for 14 years, has destroyed me financially and left me a physical wreck. I would like him one day to face that what he did was horribly wrong.”
She spent almost £90,000 defending herself against Hunt, who claimed she had made up the rape claim, before a firm of lawyers came to her rescue. The respectable middle-aged married mother, a devout Christian, could not have been further from a malicious complainant and police were horrified at Hunt’s audacity. But they were officially barred from helping her in a civil case.
Victorious at last, AB said this weekend: “I feel God has given me strength. Forget all those people in wigs and gowns. To me, He is the ultimate judge. But I hope the law is changed so this can never happen again.”
She had originally testified in court that Hunt, now 66, from Blandford St Mary, Dorset, had raped her in July, 1995. He was jailed for four years at Winchester crown court in 2003. But he had his conviction quashed on appeal in 2005 because the trial judge had misdirected the jury on points of law.
His initial attempt to sue her for “malicious prosecution” was thrown out a year ago after a High Court judge ruled that AB was not the prosecutor. Last week the three judges upheld that position in a ruling that underlined the responsibility of the law to protect key witnesses from damage claims.
Jack Straw, the justice secretary, and law chiefs had been following the case closely. There were fears that if Hunt was awarded damages it would set back Britain’s rape laws by decades and deter thousands of women from reporting sex attacks in future. The case could also have opened the floodgates for compensation claims from hundreds of men who have been cleared of rape.
Vera Baird, the solicitorgeneral and MP for Redcar, said: “This is good news for the courageous Ms AB, for women and for the criminal justice system.”
The alleged rape happened after AB and Hunt had both been on duty at the annual flower festival in Fordingbridge, Hampshire. The woman was a pillar of her local community and a church volunteer who spent her weekends patrolling a seemingly idyllic rural world of carnivals, yacht races and village shows as a special constable.
Hunt claimed she said he should “come round for one”. But AB said that he followed her home uninvited and arrived saying that he was “just passing” and asked for a cup of tea. “It seemed unusual but he was a colleague so I trusted him,” she said.
She put the kettle on and went upstairs to the lavatory. When she came out, she says Hunt was there and said he intended to “give her a good seeing to”. He pulled her into her bedroom and raped her, she said.
Although AB confided in a few trusted colleagues, she did not make a statement to the police until 2002 because she was afraid she would not be believed. She had destroyed any DNA evidence “out of shame” for what had happened.
“I felt anaesthetised. I could not move, I could not speak. I was scared he would be physically violent. When I said ‘No’, his face contorted and went purple with rage. After he left, I got in the shower. I was crying and I scrubbed so hard to get him away from me that I made myself bruised,” she said.
She was too traumatised to report what had happened even though there was the danger that she would bump into Hunt on duty. The police learnt of the incident only seven years later when a colleague in whom she had tearfully confided broke her promise of silence and told a senior officer.
Detective Chief Inspector Alison Scott had recently served on a Home Office taskforce examining Britain’s low rate of convictions for rape. She was concerned that the police employed Hunt and decided to trace AB and persuade her to come forward.
AB said: “The police came to see me at home and said I had a duty to give evidence to protect other women.”
When it came to the trial, Hunt claimed that he had a physical abnormality and medical condition which meant that sexual intercourse could have taken place only by mutual consent. He was convicted on a majority verdict. AB felt safe for the first time in years, but then Hunt was set free and started to pursue her with his compensation claim.
Paul Kernaghan, Hampshire’s recently retired chief constable, said it was one thing for the Court of Appeal to rule that Hunt’s conviction was unsafe, another entirely to claim the prosecution was malicious. The fact that AB had to “spend scarce funds defending the legal action initiated by Mr Hunt leaves me speechless ... the law is an ass”.
Hunt had brought a civil case and the police were powerless to intervene. At the modest house that AB, a clerical worker, shared with her disabled husband, the legal bills began to mount up.
“I had invoices sent in intervals — £2,000 here, £5,000 there. And then this enormous one for £50,000. We had to use everything — my husband’s pension, our retirement savings. After we’d handed over £87,000, we had nothing left,” she said.
“It looked like we’d have to sell the house. I did endless car boot sales and sold bookcases, ornaments, my casserole, china, even spare light bulbs. I suffered from really bad headaches and I’d lie awake worrying. Then I thought: are you going to let this bloke walk all over you? You have to fight. I had no option.”
She contacted Rape Crisis, Rights of Women and Julian Lewis, her local MP for New Forest East. “It was degrading to tell strangers what had happened to me. But I didn’t have any money to fight with and was going to have to represent myself,” she said.
Lovells, the lawyers, agreed to take the case on a pro bono basis. Anna Mills, her lawyer, has been nominated for a British Legal Award for her hundreds of hours of unpaid work.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6888925.ece
A male traffic warden and a female special constable began chatting: he about his diabetes, she about her car.
What happened next over an invitation for an innocent cup of tea led to a 14-year ordeal for the woman constable, who accused the man of rape, that ended only last week.
Anthony Hunt, the traffic warden, claims she said he should “come round for one”.
He was jailed for raping her, but when his conviction was quashed on a legal technicality he tried to sue her for £300,000 in a landmark case.
This weekend the woman called him a “beast” after three senior judges threw out his legal action in the High Court.
The woman can be referred to only as AB to protect her identity but she is being hailed as a champion of women’s rights even though court costs devoured her life savings.
“Angry isn’t a strong enough word for how I feel about him,” she told The Sunday Times in an exclusive interview.
“He maintained his intimidation of me, right from the onset. This was a war of attrition that went on for 14 years, has destroyed me financially and left me a physical wreck. I would like him one day to face that what he did was horribly wrong.”
She spent almost £90,000 defending herself against Hunt, who claimed she had made up the rape claim, before a firm of lawyers came to her rescue. The respectable middle-aged married mother, a devout Christian, could not have been further from a malicious complainant and police were horrified at Hunt’s audacity. But they were officially barred from helping her in a civil case.
Victorious at last, AB said this weekend: “I feel God has given me strength. Forget all those people in wigs and gowns. To me, He is the ultimate judge. But I hope the law is changed so this can never happen again.”
She had originally testified in court that Hunt, now 66, from Blandford St Mary, Dorset, had raped her in July, 1995. He was jailed for four years at Winchester crown court in 2003. But he had his conviction quashed on appeal in 2005 because the trial judge had misdirected the jury on points of law.
His initial attempt to sue her for “malicious prosecution” was thrown out a year ago after a High Court judge ruled that AB was not the prosecutor. Last week the three judges upheld that position in a ruling that underlined the responsibility of the law to protect key witnesses from damage claims.
Jack Straw, the justice secretary, and law chiefs had been following the case closely. There were fears that if Hunt was awarded damages it would set back Britain’s rape laws by decades and deter thousands of women from reporting sex attacks in future. The case could also have opened the floodgates for compensation claims from hundreds of men who have been cleared of rape.
Vera Baird, the solicitorgeneral and MP for Redcar, said: “This is good news for the courageous Ms AB, for women and for the criminal justice system.”
The alleged rape happened after AB and Hunt had both been on duty at the annual flower festival in Fordingbridge, Hampshire. The woman was a pillar of her local community and a church volunteer who spent her weekends patrolling a seemingly idyllic rural world of carnivals, yacht races and village shows as a special constable.
Hunt claimed she said he should “come round for one”. But AB said that he followed her home uninvited and arrived saying that he was “just passing” and asked for a cup of tea. “It seemed unusual but he was a colleague so I trusted him,” she said.
She put the kettle on and went upstairs to the lavatory. When she came out, she says Hunt was there and said he intended to “give her a good seeing to”. He pulled her into her bedroom and raped her, she said.
Although AB confided in a few trusted colleagues, she did not make a statement to the police until 2002 because she was afraid she would not be believed. She had destroyed any DNA evidence “out of shame” for what had happened.
“I felt anaesthetised. I could not move, I could not speak. I was scared he would be physically violent. When I said ‘No’, his face contorted and went purple with rage. After he left, I got in the shower. I was crying and I scrubbed so hard to get him away from me that I made myself bruised,” she said.
She was too traumatised to report what had happened even though there was the danger that she would bump into Hunt on duty. The police learnt of the incident only seven years later when a colleague in whom she had tearfully confided broke her promise of silence and told a senior officer.
Detective Chief Inspector Alison Scott had recently served on a Home Office taskforce examining Britain’s low rate of convictions for rape. She was concerned that the police employed Hunt and decided to trace AB and persuade her to come forward.
AB said: “The police came to see me at home and said I had a duty to give evidence to protect other women.”
When it came to the trial, Hunt claimed that he had a physical abnormality and medical condition which meant that sexual intercourse could have taken place only by mutual consent. He was convicted on a majority verdict. AB felt safe for the first time in years, but then Hunt was set free and started to pursue her with his compensation claim.
Paul Kernaghan, Hampshire’s recently retired chief constable, said it was one thing for the Court of Appeal to rule that Hunt’s conviction was unsafe, another entirely to claim the prosecution was malicious. The fact that AB had to “spend scarce funds defending the legal action initiated by Mr Hunt leaves me speechless ... the law is an ass”.
Hunt had brought a civil case and the police were powerless to intervene. At the modest house that AB, a clerical worker, shared with her disabled husband, the legal bills began to mount up.
“I had invoices sent in intervals — £2,000 here, £5,000 there. And then this enormous one for £50,000. We had to use everything — my husband’s pension, our retirement savings. After we’d handed over £87,000, we had nothing left,” she said.
“It looked like we’d have to sell the house. I did endless car boot sales and sold bookcases, ornaments, my casserole, china, even spare light bulbs. I suffered from really bad headaches and I’d lie awake worrying. Then I thought: are you going to let this bloke walk all over you? You have to fight. I had no option.”
She contacted Rape Crisis, Rights of Women and Julian Lewis, her local MP for New Forest East. “It was degrading to tell strangers what had happened to me. But I didn’t have any money to fight with and was going to have to represent myself,” she said.
Lovells, the lawyers, agreed to take the case on a pro bono basis. Anna Mills, her lawyer, has been nominated for a British Legal Award for her hundreds of hours of unpaid work.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6888925.ece