[Shasown]

A radical reform of the rape laws would grant anonymity to male defendants.
Women who report to police that they have been raped have had their identities shielded for nearly 35 years.

But men accused of rape do not have similar protection, and some who are acquitted say their reputations have been ruined by false accusations.

The coalition's surprise rape reform pledge is contained in nine blunt words in its programme for government: 'We will extend anonymity in rape cases to defendants.'

But feminists, campaigners and conservative critics of the rape laws all protested that the anonymity offer will hinder justice and do little to help men unfairly accused of one of the most despised of crimes.

The aim of hiding the identity of defendants in rape cases was not contained in either the Tory or Lib-Dem election manifestos.

It was adopted as policy by a Liberal Democrat conference in 2006, but it has not been conspicuously championed by party leaders and has been described as a ' grassroots idea'.

Calls for anonymity for men are most often heard from defendants who are tried on accusations that turn out to be false or based on slender evidence.


Among them was 26-year-old chef Peter Bacon, who was cleared by a jury in just 45 minutes last year after being accused of rape by a lawyer following a drunken one-night stand. He has since changed his name and left the country.

The student pub worker said he had endured a nightmare during the 13 months from her accusation to his acquittal.

'Rapist. It's up there with paedophile, isn't it?' he said at the time.

'I'd say it is worse even than murder, because there can be circumstances where you can attempt to justify murder. Personally, I'd have preferred to be in that dock accused of murder than rape.'

The 1976 law which gave anonymity to women complainants did, for 12 years, also provide anonymity for defendants. But this was abolished in 1988 after judges told ministers that it ran against the interests of open justice and prevented police from appealing for witnesses to rape.

They said men accused of rape should be treated the same way as anyone else accused of a crime and that acquittal by a court was enough to restore a reputation.

In 2003, the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, blocked an attempt to bring anonymity for rape defendants into his Criminal Justice Act.

Earlier this year a review of the rape laws commissioned by Labour's equality minister Harriet Harman from human rights campaigner Baroness Stern made no recommendation on anonymity for defendants.

The coalition proposal angered feminist pressure groups. The Fawcett-Society said it was worried that giving anonymity to rape defendants would tip justice and public opinion in their favour.

Campaigner Daisy Sands said: 'We are concerned that extending anonymity to defendants charged with rape, a provision not granted to defendants in other criminal cases, risks sending a message that those charged with rape deserve extra protection by the state.

Ruth Hall, of Women Against Rape, said the plan was an insult.
'If men accused of rape got special rights to anonymity, it would reinforce the misconception that lots of women who report rape are lying,' she said.
Last night a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: 'This is a sensitive area and careful analysis of the options and implications will be undertaken.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz0oZRNi8ZZ

Interesting decision by the coalition.