Death of Eleanor de Freitas

Eleanor de Freitas
Born Eleanor Poppy Miranda de Freitas
(1990-06-26)26 June 1990
Died 4 April 2014(2014-04-04) (aged 23)
Fulham, London, England United Kingdom
Cause of death Suicide by hanging
Nationality British
Education Putney High School
Occupation Trainee accountant
Parent(s) David de Freitas
Miranda de Freitas

Eleanor Poppy Miranda de Freitas (26 June 1990 to 4 April 2014) was an English woman who committed suicide three days before the commencement of her trial for perverting the course of justice for allegedly making a false accusation of rape. Her death prompted a debate over whether prosecuting people accused of making a false accusation of rape could deter rape victims from reporting the crime, as well as whether it was appropriate to prosecute vulnerable individuals (de Freitas had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression and was judged by a psychiatrist to represent a suicide risk). The decision to prosecute de Freitas was ultimately upheld by both the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney General for England and Wales. From a legal perspective, the case was notable due to the use of a private prosecution and the first successful employment of a public interest defence to a charge of defamation.

Timeline of events

Background

Eleanor Poppy Miranda de Freitas was born on 26 June 1990 and grew up in London. She attended the independent Putney High School, achieving straight As in her A Level exams. In 2008 she enrolled in Grey College, Durham University to study geography.[1][2] During her first year, she suffered a mental breakdown.[3] She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression and began seeing a psychiatrist, who prescribed her antidepressants.[4][5] At the end of the 2008/09 academic year, de Freitas dropped out of Durham University.[1][2]

In February 2012, de Freitas had another mental breakdown. She accused her parents of trying to poison her and her landlord of sexually assaulting her; went on unaffordable shopping sprees; and became delusional. She was involuntarily committed under the Mental Health Act 1983 and spent a month in Ealing Hospital.[4] After leaving Ealing Hospital, de Freitas began living alone with support from her parents and working part-time in a shop.[5] Unbeknown to her parents, she reportedly also worked as a tantric masseuse.[6][7][8][9] In summer 2013, she began training as an accountant.[10][11]

Rape allegations

In 2008 or 2009, de Freitas met Alexander Economou, the company secretary of a shipping agency.[5][10] They became friends after attending the same party in Chelsea in October 2012.[4] On 23 December 2012, de Freitas and Economou had sex.[4] On 4 January 2013, de Freitas alleged to the Metropolitan Police Service that Economou had raped her.[12][13] In an interview with police, she asserted that she "wasn't in control of my body" due to combining alcohol with her bipolar medicine and was unable to consent; that Economou had "drugged" her; that she had been "frozen with fear"; and that Economou had coerced her into allowing him to tie her up, "waterboard" her, and have unprotected sex with her.[4][5][14] Economou was arrested and spent a night in custody. On 20 February 2013,[13] the Police decided to take no further action[15] against Economou and he was never charged.[16] Economou asserted that the sex had been consensual;[17] that he had ended the relationship on 24 December after discovering de Freitas was working as a tantric masseuse[9] and after receiving "crazy" text messages from de Freitas;[18] and that de Freitas had fabricated the rape claim "as an act of revenge, because I rejected her".[4]

Prosecution

In August 2013, Economou launched a private prosecution of de Freitas for perverting the course of justice[11] at a cost of approximately £200,000.[12] Economou amassed witness statements, text messages and closed-circuit television footage that contradicted the account of de Freitas,[19] including footage of de Freitas and himself shopping together for sex toys at an Ann Summers shop on the day following the alleged rape and text messages de Freitas had sent to mutual friends.[4][5][20] Upon receiving the summons on 31 August 2013,[5] de Freitas reportedly had a panic attack.[21] She engaged a defence solicitor who invited Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Crown Prosecution Service, to use his statutory power to take over the private prosecution and end it. However, in December 2013, the Crown Prosecution Service instead announced that it would instead take over and continue the prosecution. de Freitas subsequently instructed her defence solicitor to seek an injunction against reporting on the prosecution.[11] The Metropolitan Police Service officers who had investigated the alleged rape refused to support the Crown Prosecution Service but were overruled.[4][14] de Freitas was arraigned at Southwark Crown Court on 24 January 2014, pleading not guilty.[5]

Rape counselling services were withdrawn from de Freitas upon the commencement of the prosecution[22] (in March 2015, Member of Parliament Valerie Vaz asked Solicitor General for England and Wales Robert Buckland to "review the guidance to ensure that the provision of support and counselling services to vulnerable people is not removed abruptly"[23]). de Freitas became "severely" depressed and her behaviour became erratic, including claiming she was being followed and that her phone was being tapped and wearing a burqa when going out in public.[12][22] In September 2018, she was found in a branch of Co-op Food on Strand throwing crisp packets and shouting at staff.[21][4] A psychiatric report prepared for the Crown Prosecution Service stated that de Freitas was fit to stand trial but required constant evaluation as she posed a "chronic and significant" suicide risk.[4] Her doctor neglected to prescribe lithium for her bipolar disorder as de Freitas suffered from a fear of needles.

Suicide

On 4 April 2014, de Freitas committed suicide by hanging herself at her family home in Fulham, London.[22] Her trial for perverting the course of justice had been due to commence on 7 April.[14] She left a suicide note in which she stated, "If I were to lose the case I know that I would have brought huge shame on the family. It's entirely my fault for what has happened and there are many other events which make me make this decision."[8] She also expressed fears about potentially having to testify in court in her defence.[16]

At an inquest held in March 2015, coroner Chinyere Inyama recorded a verdict of suicide and noted that the impending trial had been a "significant stressor" on de Freitas.[22] A call by solicitor Harriet Wistrich on behalf of de Freitas' family to widen the scope of the inquest to assess whether the Crown Prosecution Service had breached the right to life enshrined in the Human Rights Act 1998 by prosecuting de Freitas was unsuccessful.[16]

Reaction

Following de Freitas' suicide, her father David criticised the decision to prosecute her, stating, "We can see no reason whatsoever why the CPS pursued Eleanor. If the CPS had put a stop to it at the time I would still have a daughter."[24] David de Freitas suggested that de Freitas had feared once again being involuntarily committed[3] and was embarrassed that evidence would emerge during the trial relating to her work in the sex industry.[7] de Freitas had been concerned about having to testify in her defence in court; delays by the Crown Prosecution Service in providing a record of her interview with police to her defence solicitor meant they were unable to confirm that she would not be required to testify until the morning of her death (a court order requiring the Crown Prosecution Service to disclose all evidence at least six weeks prior to the trial was not complied with). The Crown Prosecution Service later apologised for the delay in the disclosure of the evidence.[4][25]

The decision to prosecute de Freitas was also criticised by the organisation Women Against Rape, which argued that the "aggressive pursuit" of women accused of making false allegations of rape in the United Kingdom was deterring rape victims from reporting the crime to the police.[26] The charity Victim Support released a statement expressing concerns about the use of private prosecutions to "intimidate" people making allegations of rape,[3] while the charity Justice for Women stated "the public interest is always overwhelmingly in favour of not prosecuting a rape complainant" and "it is imperative that the overwhelming public interest in improving the UK's appallingly low conviction rate for rape offences is considered by all prosecutors when deciding whether to charge women for perverting the course of justice".[27] Lisa Avalos of the University of Arkansas stated that the United Kingdom makes significantly more prosecutions for false rape allegations than the United States, and that these carry a charge of perverting the course of justice (with a maximum sentence of life in prison) rather than false reporting (which carries lighter penalties such as community service, fines, or probation.[26] The charity INQUEST cited statistics showing "no country pursues the prosecution of disbelieved rape complainants with the frequency that occurs in Britain".[28] An alternative view was expressed by journalist Radhika Sanghani, who wrotes that "false rape allegations can have devastating consequences for the accused" and noted that over a 17 month period in 2011 to 2012 there were only 35 prosecutions for false rape allegations in England and Wales, compared to 5,651 prosecutions for rape. Sarah Green of the End Violence Against Women Coalition stated, "We must prosecute these cases if someone's trying to maliciously get someone into trouble."[29]

The suicide prompted Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders to review the decision to prosecute.[3][24] In December 2014, Saunders concluded that it had been correct to do so, stating that there was "sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction" and "a strong public interest in prosecuting". Saunders also stated that medical experts had advised that de Freitas was fit to stand trial.[19][30] After de Freitas' father David called for a new inquiry or a review to be carried out, in June 2018, Attorney General for England and Wales Jeremy Wright decided not to order an independent inquiry into the decision to prosecute, stating, "I have carefully considered the concerns raised by Mr de Freitas and I am satisfied that this case has already been subject to extensive scrutiny within the CPS, and that it was right for the prosecution to go ahead."[31]

In December 2014, Alexander Economou began a libel claim against David de Freitas, asserting that articles critical of the Crown Prosecution Service appearing in The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian and a broadcast on BBC Radio 4 had resulted in him enduring "public rubbishing" and damaged his reputation. The claim was dismissed in July 2016 with the judge ruling that, while Economou's reputation had been damaged, this was justified given de Freitas had considered the articles and broadcast to be in the public interest and that ruling in favour of Economou would represent a disproportionate infringement upon de Freitas' freedom of speech.[5][10][32] This represented the first time a public interest defence had been successfully mounted under the Defamation Act 2013.[33][34]

The BBC issued a retraction and apology in May 2015 after Lisa Longstaff of Women Against Rape indirectly referred to Economou as a "rapist" while being interviewed on a live episode of Victoria Derbyshire.[35]

In December 2015, Economou was charged with harassing David de Freitas. It was alleged that Economou had sent letters and emails to de Freitas and his solicitor, Harriet Wistrich, and "uploaded various recordings and comments onto websites".[36] Economou was found not guilty in June 2016, with the judge stating, "I find that the defendant's actions were calculated to counter the continuing incorrect assertions that the allegation of rape was true".[6][13][37]

References

  1. 1 2 Poppy Ovenden (12 November 2014). "Durham student killed herself after being accused of false rape claim". The Tab. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Grey Matters: The Magazine of Grey College Association" (PDF). Grey Matters. February 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 BBC News (7 November 2014). "Inquiry launched by DPP into rape allegation case". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Katie Baker (29 June 2018). "Vulnerable women are routinely prosecuted – and imprisoned – for false rape claims in the UK". BuzzFeed News. BuzzFeed. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division (27 July 2016). "Before: Mr Justice Warby between Alexander Economou (claimant) and David de Freitas (defender)" (PDF). Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  6. 1 2 Press Association (2 June 2016). "Alexander Economou cleared of harassing father of rape accuser". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  7. 1 2 David Brown (12 November 2014). "Woman's suicide after fears of exposure as an escort". The Times. News UK. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  8. 1 2 "Eleanor de Freitas false rape case: Escort rumours heightened fear of prosecution". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. 17 March 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  9. 1 2 Alexander Economou (24 December 2012). "An escort called Goddess Portia". Accused.blog. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  10. 1 2 3 "Shipping magnate's son loses libel action against father of Eleanor de Freitas who accused him of rape". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. 28 July 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  11. 1 2 3 David de Freitas (10 December 2014). "My daughter killed herself after being charged over rape claims. We need answers". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  12. 1 2 3 Alexandra Topping (17 March 2015). "Inquest into alleged rape victim's suicide raises questions about CPS procedure". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  13. 1 2 3 Westminster Magistrates' Court (2 June 2016). "Regina v. Alexander Economou" (PDF). Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  14. 1 2 3 Sandra Laville (10 December 2014). "Eleanor de Freitas's father 'astonished' that CPS charged her over rape claim". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  15. ↑ "Police Investigation Concludes: No Further Action". www.accused.blog. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  16. 1 2 3 Sandra Laville (7 November 2014). "Daughter 'would still be alive' if CPS had not pursued charge of false rape claim". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  17. ↑ Alexander Economou (24 December 2012). "My date with Ellie de Freitas". Accused.blog. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  18. ↑ Alexander Economou (24 December 2012). "Crazy messages". Accused.blog. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  19. 1 2 Sandra Laville (9 December 2014). "DPP defends decision to prosecute rape complainant who killed herself". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  20. ↑ Julie Bindel (28 July 2016). "Prosecuting Eleanor de Freitas ended in tragedy. So how do we deal with alleged false reports of rape?". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  21. 1 2 Antonia Molloy (17 March 2015). "Eleanor de Freitas: Inquest hears 23-year-old feared she would 'bring shame on the family' if she was found guilty of making false rape claim". The Independent. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  22. 1 2 3 4 Press Association (17 March 2015). "'No way out' for rape claim woman". Somerset County Gazette. Newsquest. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  23. ↑ "Vulnerable Witnesses". 594. Hansard. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  24. 1 2 Press Association (8 November 2014). "CPS 'to blame for daughter's death'". South Wales Argus. Newsquest. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  25. ↑ Lisa Avalos (6 January 2016). "The Chilling Effect: The Politics of Charging Rape Complainants with False Reporting". Brooklyn Law Review. 83 (3). Brooklyn Law School. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  26. 1 2 Sally Hayden (3 December 2014). "Campaigners say British authorities must end 'aggressive pursuit' of women for false rape claims". Vice News. Vice Media. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  27. ↑ Julia Hilliard (6 November 2014). "Charging rape complainants with perverting the course of justice". Justice for Women. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  28. ↑ "INQUEST supports the father of Eleanor de Freitas in his challenge to the remit of the inquest into her death". INQUEST. 9 July 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  29. ↑ Radhika Sanghani (18 March 2015). "Eleanor de Freitas' false rape case ended in tragedy. But she's not the only victim". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  30. ↑ Alison Saunders (9 December 2014). "Statement from the Director of Public Prosecutions on Eleanor de Freitas". Crown Prosecution Service. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  31. ↑ Attorney General's Office (26 June 2018). "No independent inquiry into the prosecution of Eleanor De Freitas". gov.uk. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  32. ↑ Sandra Laville (27 July 2016). "Man loses libel action against father of woman who accused him of rape". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  33. ↑ "Public interest defence successfully deployed at libel trial for first time". Brett Wilson. 1 August 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  34. ↑ "Economou V De Freitas: Further Guidance on the Statutory Defence of Public Interest". Carter-Ruck. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  35. ↑ "Programme update: An apology". BBC Online. BBC. May 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  36. ↑ David Barrett (9 December 2015). "Alexander Economou charged with harassing father of Eleanor de Freitas". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  37. ↑ BBC News (2 June 2016). "Rape row man cleared of harassing grieving father". BBC. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
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