Justice Delayed is Justice Denied
On Thursday, I shared the news that my trial against my perpetrator, which was due to start tomorrow after a two-year wait - and five years since I first reported my childhood sexual abuse to the police in 2021- had been vacated four days out due to another case overrunning, meaning there are no available courtrooms at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester.
Over the weekend, I was asked to write a Victim Impact Statement and provide dates of unavailability for 2027, 2028, and 2029 so that the trial can be relisted at a “mention and fix” hearing tomorrow instead of proceeding to trial. I have written and submitted my statement, and I have informed the CPS that if the trial is relisted for any date beyond 2026, then I will be withdrawing from the process.
I don’t need to emphasise how disgusting and unacceptable this situation is, but I will remind people of the key element of the timeline to this point:
September 2021: I reported historical CSA to Greater Manchester Police via the 101 non-emergency line. I was told no one was available to handle it and was directed to an online web form, which was insulting and degrading, and I discontinued my report.
October 2021: I reported in person at Ashton police station. By November, no ABE (Achieving Best Evidence) interview had been arranged, forcing me to close the case due to the massive emotional toll.
April 2022: I reopened the case, and my ABE interview took place in May 2022.
August 2022: After failing to attend several voluntary interviews, my perpetrator went on the run and became a fugitive perverting the course of justice.
November 2023: After a year of inaction from GMP, my perpetrator resurfaced by emailing me abuse. When I called 101 to report this, GMP’s systems were down, and they told me to call back the next day. I refused to hang up, and it took an hour just to log the call. No action was taken.
November 12th 2023: I learned my perpetrator was hiding in a hotel and called 999 to give this information. No action was taken, and my perpetrator remained at large.
December 30th 2023: I reported death threats made by my perpetrator to my family. Again, no action was taken by GMP.
March 27th 2024: After pressure from The Maggie Oliver Foundation, a meeting took place with a ranking officer in the Oldham Division of GMP, who said I would receive a written apology, and a dedicated team would be tasked with the sole objective of finding my perpetrator. It took them less than a week to finally arrest him at the same hotel I reported him to be in back in November 2023. (I never received a written apology)
May 7th 2024: My perpetrator appeared at Minshull Crown Court via video link at HMP Forest Bank and was released from prison on bail despite making a mockery of the justice process.
May 21st 2024: My perpetrator failed to attend his plea hearing, and rather than being recalled to prison for breaching bail, he was given “one last chance.”
From this point onwards, there have been several attempts at delaying the trial. Last week I had a 50-minute call with the CPS, who assured me that this trial was going ahead barring exceptional circumstances. So finally, after years of endurance, the trial was pulled days before it was due to begin due to a lack of courtrooms.
The question at this point is, why withdraw from the process after reaching this stage? The answer is not simple, but one thing I would like to make clear is that this isn’t a case of having nothing left in the tank and being unable to continue – I could endure for another five years if I had to. But the fact of the matter is that the Criminal Justice System is beyond broken, and the cost of continuing beyond this year outweighs the value of the outcome at this point.
A trial getting pulled at the last minute, five years in, then being told “maybe 2027–2029” is a structural failure. I am no longer participating in justice; I am absorbing systemic dysfunction at huge personal cost, and I refuse to do that any longer. I do not need my perpetrator to be in prison to gain validation or closure. I got that myself by becoming something my perpetrator could not and will never be, which is a man. I have built a life for myself and a photography career. I have been self-employed for three years and answered to no one in that time. I have built Victorious Voices and Manchester Photography Collective in circumstances that would crush many people.
Whether behind bars or walking the streets, my perpetrator will remain a paedophile, a man who was charged with indecent assault of a male under 14 and attempted rape of a male under 14. If you have children, this should be your biggest concern: we have a system that apparently deems paedophilia to be a minor crime and allows paedophiles a free rein. This is the society we live in.
The Criminal Justice System does not feel stretched or struggling; it feels structurally unable to deliver timely justice. When almost every trial and hearing is cancelled, it means it does not function, and it doesn’t need another report or independent review for that to be an obvious fact. Behind the backlog are tens of thousands of people, not cases. That reality should sit at the centre of any conversation about reform. Cases do not get angry and make their presence felt, but people do, and it would be wise for the people operating this system to remember this. We are not shouting into a void with these failures, and we are not going away.
It may be disappointing to some that I am willing to walk away, and I can understand that. But it is important to remember that I lived up to my side of the deal at every turn of the road: I reported, I endured, and I attended every meeting I was asked to attend. I did this for five years, but in the end, it was the system that couldn’t meet me, not the other way around. It was the system that favoured my perpetrator and allowed him to do everything he has done.
There is no reason to be disheartened in the long run. The landscape is changing. Local authorities and traditional charities refuse to acknowledge or deal with these glaring, unacceptable failures. They refuse to be part of the solution; therefore, they are part of the problem. They see CSA Survivors like me as outside their spheres of influence and irrelevant.
But the thing about spheres of influence is you can build your own, and it may not be apparent to people yet, but I can tell you from my position, I can see the framework of a true CSA Survivor alliance being built. One that will consist of major funding streams, national and international impact, community outreach, and, most importantly, true solidarity in the fight for real systemic change.
There are people in this country waiting seven, eight, nine years for justice.
I will not be one of them.
