Rape Evidence Dismissed After ‘Tainted’ Police Report

Evidence in a rape trial was dismissed after a judge branded a police officer an “evasive and not credible” witness. Judge Lady Scott revealed that she had barred the jury from hearing Jake Hawkins, 22, police interview after calling the questioning of him “wholly improper”. Mr Hawkins was found not guilty of raping a woman at a property in Dundee in August 2016. Mr Hawkins was advised by his solicitor to answer “no comment” to all questioning, but Judge Scott said the interview was inadmissible after ruling that police had sought to “undermine” that decision. Mr Hawkins told the court that police made him feel his solicitor “didn’t care or know what he was doing” and that the person who had given him advice before his interview was “rubbish and didn’t know what was going on”. As a result, after more than an hour of maintaining his right to silence, Hawkins said he “didn’t know whether he could trust his lawyer” and that he was “making a bad decision listening to the solicitor”.

Read more: STV News, http://bit.ly/2jmJT2Q