Posted on 01/01/2008 11:15:53 AM PST by UKrepublican
Victim of false rape claim must pay £12,500 for bed and board in jail
A man wrongly jailed when a woman cried rape has failed to prevent being charged £12,500 for his "board and lodging" while in prison.
Warren Blackwell, 38, spent three years in jail as a convicted sex attacker until his 'victim' was unmasked as a fantasist.
It was revealed he has been awarded £252,500 compensation for his lost years - but minus the estimated cost of his food and accommodation while behind bars.
Mr Blackwell said he had failed to stop the money being siphoned off after his lawyer told him there was little to be done about it.
The father-of-two, said: "It's the principle of the thing. They slam you in jail for three years and four months, brand you a sex attacker, leave your family to cope without you, then turn around and say sorry but demand £12,500 for living expenses incurred during your time inside.
"I tried to fight against it but my solicitor says the only hope of overturning the decision would be to go all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. I would probably use up all the compensation money on legal fees if I did that."
Mr Blackwell was jailed on the word of a woman who claims he seized her at knifepoint outside a village club early on New Year's Day 1999, marched her down an alleyway and indecently assaulted her.
She picked him out of an identity parade and a jury found him guilty, even though there was no forensic evidence and he had no previous convictions.
His wife Tanya never doubted him and an investigation by the Criminal Cases Review Commission later discovered that his accuser had invented the story.
Not only did Mr Blackwell not commit the crime, but the crime had never taken place.
It also emerged she was a serial accuser, having fabricated at least seven other allegations of sexual and physical assault against blameless men.
She kept changing her name and moving around, so police forces never realised they were dealing with the same woman.
Mr Blackwell, of Woodford Halse, Northamptonshire, was dramatically cleared at the Appeal Court in 2005, and lodged a formal bid for compensation.
It was accepted by the Government, but left to an assessor to calculate the actual amount. The assessor has now estimated that the portion of Mr Blackwell's compensation for loss of earnings - put at just over £70,000 - should be cut by 20 per cent to cover his "living expenses."
But Mr Blackwell said: "If murderers and robbers don't get charged for their time in the clanger, how come an innocent man does? It doesn't make sense and it is plain discrimination."
His solicitor, Robert Berg, said: "The adjudicator made a fair award of compensation for the suffering caused in this miscarriage of justice, however it is very unfair to charge him board and lodging.
"It is illogical that someone should have to pay for a punishment - which prison is - that should never have been given in the first place.
"Even though he was in prison, it doesn't mean there were no living expenses at his home. His family was still there, having to feed themselves and manage the home.
"So they cooked one less pork chop because he wasn't there - it's hardly a great saving, is it?"
The practice of charging "bed and breakfast" was challenged in 2007 by the Bridgewater Three, the men wrongly convicted of murdering newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater in 1978, but the principle was upheld by the House of Lords.
That’s OK..
If the prison insists on being paid for the bed and board...the man should sue the woman for the money...
I dont think the man should be charged for the bed and board but apparently they did so...
I don’t see anything in the article saying whether the woman was punished in any way for ruining this man’s life.
Kind of like the Duke Rape accuser.
If you look into where she lived in the past and there’s no record you know something changed and further investigating is warranted. Her name change is no excuse.
***”I tried to fight against it but my solicitor says the only hope of overturning the decision would be to go all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. I would probably use up all the compensation money on legal fees if I did that.”***
Vote for Hitlery for president, and this is just ONE of the problems you’ll have.
Yeah, that’s how I read it, too. Then I looked again and my jaw dropped...
If the prison insists on being paid for the bed and board...the prison should sue the woman for the money...
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
That would be good too...
:)
Yep, and unfortunately my own country tends to follow the UKs lead on pretty much everything.
We are definitely marching to the beat of the UK drummer. In every respect, from socializing our medicine to making all crime and criminals protected PC to shutting down all speech that isn’t pro-jihadist and pro-socialist. We’re not there yet, but we are definitely trending in those directions.
In a similar way our 17th Amendment turned Senators representing states into vote & money grubbing three term congressmen representing the mob.
bump
I'd be willing to bet any amount of money you care to name that nothing whatsoever will be done to this woman. She won't even be charge with a single count of perjury.
The exact same thing would happen here, so we Americans can't really be too smug.
Why the hell are the citizens expected to pick up the tab for this insane woman’s disgusting charade? She should be put in debtor’s prison for life to pay back this man.
I think Britain would be better off with the old monarchy.
There may always be an England, but thank God my family moved to America when I was two.
The double standard is alive and well.
Our only recompense as males is the privilege of pronouncing "Guilty" or "Not Guilty" on the dingbat female teachers who sleep with their male students.
-ccm
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