(Picture: Liberty Sadler)

Victims of rape may no longer be forced to endure their sexual history being brought up in court.

People who report they’ve been raped often have their sex lives, clothing and alcohol consumption questioned in court.

Victims of rape describe the devastating effects of not being believed and victim blaming

Many activists believe the treatment of victims – and portrayal of rape on TV dramas such as Apple Tree Yard earlier this week – is why the number of rapes reported to police is so tragically low.

During the tense finale of the BBC thriller Emily Watson’s character Yvonne is forced to recount upsetting details of her sexual assault by a co-worker who was later killed.




The scene shows how doubt is cast over the character’s version of events and the legitimacy of her story given that on one (completely separate) occasion she made a joke about ‘being easy’.

Obviously, the show depicts only the dramatisation of a court case – but it sadly mirrors the UK legal system and laws surrounding rape and sexual assault.

During the retrial of Ched Evans in October, the teen who accused the footballer of rape had her sex life and previous sexual partners brought up in court, as means of casting doubt on her credibility as an alleged victim.

Ched Evans and partner Natasha Massey outside Cardiff Crown Court, where he was been found not guilty of raping a teen during a retrial (Picture: PA)

Under new laws proposed inn the wake of the retrial, lawyers could face tougher rules limiting the use of an alleged victim’s sexual history in rape trials.

Evans was acquitted of raping a 19-year-old woman at a retrial after a judge controversially allowed evidence from two men who had sex with her around the time of the allegation to be heard.

Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts says the case risks turning the clock back 20 years to the days when women were routinely subjected to a humiliating ‘inquisition’ about their past sexual encounters while on the witness stand.

Rape victim bravely shares a stage with her attacker to share their story

She said anecdotal evidence from police and campaigners suggests the well-publicised case is putting women off reporting sex attacks and taking them to full criminal trial.

While campaigners believe the Evans case has led to a rise in the number of defendants successfully applying to have the sexual history of their alleged victims used as evidence under section 41 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999.

Ms Saville Roberts said: ‘What this case highlighted was the degree to which a woman’s sexual behaviour can still be used against her.

‘In the 21st century, to see this double standard so evidently at work highlights the need for us to have meaningful legislation in relation to sexual behaviour.’

An MP claims social media can be used to find information on victims’ relationship history (Picture: Liberty Sadler)

She said that if the law goes unaddressed then Britain will return to the days ‘when victims were effectively undergoing an inquisition when they went to court’.

‘I don’t think anybody wants to go back to that. But if this recourse is available to lawyers who are seeking to look out for the interests of the defendant, then they are going to use it,’ Ms Saville Roberts added.



Originally intended as a ‘rape shield’ law, section 41 was meant to spare victims from humiliating cross-examination over their sexual history.

The Evans case fuelled calls for the law to be updated amid concerns that in the age of Twitter and Facebook. anyone can turn detective and launch an online ‘witch hunt’ for information about a woman’s sexual past or previous relationships.

The Sexual Offences (amendment) Bill would restrict the use of a complainant’s sexual history unless it is against the interests of justice not to admit it.

Ms Saville Roberts said: ‘There is a concern about whether there will be greater use in the future of private investigators or social media to trawl through a complainant’s previous sexual history as a means to collect evidence to defend a defendant.

Rape Statistics Approximately 85,000 women and 12,000 men are raped in England and Wales every year; that’s roughly 11 rapes every hour (figure doesn’t include offenses against children) Nearly half a million adults are sexually assaulted in England and Wales each year Only around 15% of those who experience sexual violence choose to report to the police 1 in 5 women aged 16 – 59 has experienced some form of sexual violence since the age of 16 Approximately 90% of rape victims know the perpetrator prior to the offence (Figures include assaults by penetration and attempts) Source: Rape Crisis

‘This case is so well known, and we have the means through social media for people to do this themselves, it could turn into a witch hunt against certain people, women mostly, and the result will be to decrease people’s willingness to come forward in a situation where they have been raped.’

What to do if you’re the victim of revenge porn or a sex tape leak

According to figures collected by Dame Vera Baird, the former solicitor general and now Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, a woman’s sexual history was admitted as evidence in 11 out of 30 rape cases in Northumbria between January 2015 to June 2016.

This apparent trend towards allowing a complainant’s sexual history into the court room could leave any woman open to the humiliation, Ms Saville Roberts said.


She said: ‘I’m a mother of twin daughters, my friends, myself, their friends – you wonder if anything happened to them, what’s to stop this being used against them?’

The Bill, which is backed by charities and Police and Crime Commissioners in Wales, was presented in the House of Commons following PMQs today.