Allegations of Sexual
Abuse |
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Lord Campbell-Savours
is calling for changes to the law A woman with a long history of
crying rape who sent an innocent man to jail was named in Parliament amid
calls for a change in the law. Shannon Taylor was unmasked by a
peer who told the House of Lords her lies had put father-of-two Warren
Blackwell behind bars for more than three years. Lord Campbell-Savours
used Parliamentary privilege to expose her identity and lambast
the 'shabby' police investigation that saw Mr Blackwell imprisoned. Legal experts praised his decision
to speak out to prevent other men falling victim to fake sex attack
allegations. Mr Blackwell, 36, whose loyal wife
Tanya never doubted his innocence, was dramatically cleared at the Appeal
Court last month after Miss Taylor's background as a serial fantasist was
exposed by a Criminal Cases Review Commission investigation. But although his name was
blackened, anonymity laws meant his accuser's was automatically protected,
and she became known only as Miss A. Even the appeal judges wanted to
name her - but were powerless to do so - to warn other blameless members of
the public. The Daily Mail led calls for her
identity to be revealed before she put another innocent man through torment. Yesterday, Lord Campbell-Savours - said to be motivated by 'outrage' at the case -
stood up and publicly did so. He asked fellow peers: "Is
not the inevitable consequence of the workings of the law, as currently
framed, that we will carry on imprisoning innocent people like Warren
Blackwell, who was falsely accused by a serial and repeated liar, Shannon
Taylor, with a history of false accusations and multiple identities? "As a result of her
accusations, he spent three and a half years in prison following a shabby and
inadequate police investigation, and was only exonerated when the Criminal
Cases Review Commission inquiry cleared him and exposed her history." The Labour
peer added: "Shouldn't mature accusers who perjure themselves in rape
trials be named and prosecuted for perjury?" Miss Taylor's own daughter backed
the decision to disclose her name, saying: "She is a danger and the
public needs to be warned. She needs prosecuting for what she did. She is
every man's worst nightmare." Mr Blackwell's ordeal began when
his accuser, now 38, claimed she had been seized with a knife outside a
village club early on New Year's Day 1999, taken to an alley and indecently
assaulted. She later picked him out of an
identity parade and a jury found him guilty, even though there was no
forensic evidence against him and he had no previous convictions. Eventually, the case was investigated
by the Criminal Cases Review Commission which found that the woman had made
up at least seven other fake allegations of sexual and physical assault,
including against her own father. She frequently changed her name and police
forces did not realise they were dealing with the
same woman. Her own mother has described her
as "a persistent liar, very manipulative and a bully" who
frequently claimed to have been beaten, sexually attacked and raped - all of
which were untrue. She has a history of mental illness and self-harm. The original investigation by Northamptonshire Police was exposed as shoddy, with Mr
Blackwell's lawyers claiming that normal safeguards and procedures were
completely ignored. He plans to sue. Yesterday, a friend of 63-year-old
Lord Campbell-Savours explained why he decided to
speak out. He said: "He named her
because he was outraged. He doesn't think it's got anything to do with the
issue of rape, he thinks it's an issue of perjury. "This woman made up the story
and told lies and he can't see why a person who has perjured themselves
should be protected, irrespective of the type of offence. "Sometimes people have to
stick their heads above the parapet in cases where the law is clearly an ass
and needs to be reformed. "He thinks the law around
anonymity, particularly where false accusations have been made, needs to be
changed." Welcoming the development, Mr
Blackwell, from Woodford Halse, Northamptonshire,
said: "It's absolutely fantastic. I didn't think anybody would have the guts
to name her. "This woman needs to be
stopped. The fact is, she remains free to carry on
crying rape and up till now has been enjoying the full protection of the law.
It's absolutely crazy that she could not be named and shamed, because
innocent men need to be warned to avoid her like the plague. "Now I hope she will go on to
be prosecuted." But she is unlikely to face charges for perjury or
perverting justice. Northamptonshire Police yesterday claimed there
was "insufficient evidence", while Crown Prosecution sources have
cited her mental illness as a barrier. But Mr Blackwell's barrister Anne
Johnson said: "There is a clear public interest in her being prosecuted
for perjury or the very least wasting police time. "It's fantastic that somebody
of authority has finally come out and named this woman. The issue needs to be
aired otherwise nothing will be done." At Mr Blackwell's appeal last
month, Mr Justice Tugendhat admitted that similar
tragic cases could follow because of the lies of the 'Miss A', adding that
Parliament had not seemed to have considered this possibility when framing
the law. Last night the judge said he did not wish to comment on yesterday's
twist. In the 1970s, the Daily Mail
campaigned for women in sex cases to be granted automatic anonymity, to
protect genuine victims of genuine crimes. Although Miss Taylor has now been
publicly named, there is nothing to stop her changing her identity yet again.
Callers to her most recent address
were told by her boyfriend that she no longer lived there. |