Guilty without a trial

In the wake of two high profile acquittals it seems we are due for some serious reform. Now there is to be a new celebrity law, which means that unless your name is Jimmy Savile, any complaint or allegation of a sexual nature
is to be investigated and considered by the police initially before being handed over, not to the Crown Prosecution Service, but to
the tabloid press to decide whether to charge or not.

It is they who have the wisdom and prescience to know whether such allegations be brought to court or whether they should be dropped, which, of course, they all will be, unless your name is Jimmy Savile – in which case you are guilty without a trial.

For some reason, this new law is not one that will apply if the allegation is made against a non-celeb. Here, presumably
the evidence will be tested in the Hsiao way and the jury will decide on its verdict according to the ‘yawn, yawn’ burden and standard of proof.

What the soothsayers employed by tabloid papers forget is the universal truth known and understood by the criminal courts that alleged victims can wait many years before bringing an allegation to light for human reasons.

Often something triggers
it. It could be anything, seemingly trivial or obviously understandable. The trial sorts
it out.

I know nothing of the two recent acquittals, but I am confident that there was evidence, it was challenged and other evidence called and the figure verdicts were reached.

None of that means there should not have been a trial in the first place. It must be hell
on earth to be accused of such crimes, but the rage and frustration that the acquitted feel widely should be directed
at the source of the complaint and not the system that brought the trial.

The world condemns Savile and the silence and inertia on behalf of the system that rendered him untouchable. Ironically a new celeb law would be more of the same.

And once again, forgive me, we see the criminal bar doughtily doing its job. Again, celeb trials should show the world that despite who you are, you can end up on the wrong end of an allegation and needing a defence barrister to save all
that you hold dear.

Where will this battle with the government end? Let us ask the tabloids, after all they know everything. We could also check with them who will win the Grand National then we could put our aged debt on it and never need to work again. 

Felix is the pen name of a barrister practising in London