More than 40 MPs write to attorney general to urge change in law that would stop use of a complainant’s sexual history becoming routine practice

More than 40 female Labour MPs have written to the attorney general warning that women will be less likely to report rape because of the legal precedent set in the retrial of the footballer Ched Evans.

The members of the women’s parliamentary Labour party, including its chair, Jess Phillips, Harriet Harman and Angela Eagle, have urged Jeremy Wright to support a change in the law to stop a move towards the sexual history of rape complainants being used routinely to discredit their evidence in court.

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They made the plea after evidence about the sexual history of the complainant was used in the retrial of Evans, a former Wales international who was acquitted earlier this month.

In the letter to Wright, they wrote that a move towards revisiting the sexual history of complainants in court would “act to make the prosecution of rape cases in the future harder and reporting of these crimes less likely”.

“The verdict and events in this case set a dangerous precedent that how a victim of rape, usually a woman, has behaved in the past can be taken as evidence of the way she behaved at the time of the alleged rape,” they wrote.

“This will deter victims from disclosing their abuse and will reduce the number of victims presenting their cases to the police for fear of having their private lives investigated and scrutinised.”

They said there was an additional risk that in an age of social media and online stalking, victims could fall prey to private investigations and the crowdsourcing of information into their past sexual partners.

“The ruling will act to encourage defence lawyers in rape trials to effectively apply for an individual’s completely legal and private sexual history to be admissible as evidence,” they said.

In the recent retrial of Evans, details about the sexual history of the complainant were used after appeal judges ruled the accounts were so similar to the alleged encounter with the footballer that it could not reasonably be explained as coincidental.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jess Phillips, the chair of the women’s parliamentary Labour party. Photograph: Ken McKay/ITV/Rex Shutterstock

The MPs said the ruling created a precedent when such evidence had only previously been used once in the past 16 years in a case where the similarity of the sexual conduct was bizarre and unusual.

They are asking Wright and the justice secretary, Liz Truss, to change the law to specifically make it clear that sexual history evidence can only be used when the similar conduct is unusual and out of the ordinary.

Their arguments echo those of Vera Baird, the former solicitor general, who last week told Radio 4’s Today programme that the events of the case had set the law back decades when it comes to treatment of rape complainants’ sexual history.

“The only difference between a clear conviction of Mr Evans in 2012 and the absolute refusal of him having any leave to appeal at that time, and his acquittal now, is that he has called some men to throw discredit on [the woman’s] sexual reputation,” she said.

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“That, I think, is pouring prejudice, which is exactly what used to happen before the law in 1999 stopped the admission of previous sexual history in order to show consent.”

To increase the pressure on the government, the MPs are demanding a meeting with Wright and the Ministry of Justice in order to discuss a change in the law or regulations.

“We must act to cease the return to a culture of ‘victim blaming’. We believe that the use of a complainants’ sexual history should never be used in our courts as evidence of consent,” they said.

“We are calling on the government to act. The women’s parliamentary Labour party ask that you and the minister of justice meet with a delegation from our group to discuss how the government will progress on this issue. We offer you our support in working towards a solution and promise our full scrutiny should this not be resolved.”

Phillips is also planning to raise the issue in the House of Commons at attorney general questions and call for a debate. She said the action was being taken by a united group of Labour women who have fought together to improve the lives of rape victims and protect women.



