Nigel Evans, speaking outside Preston Crown Court, declared that his “life will never be the same again”. He showed no sign of euphoria after being found not guilty of all the preposterous charges laid against him by the police and the Crown Prosecution Service. One reporter told me that in all her years of covering court cases she had never seen a weaker prosecution case. The fact of the matter is that most of us in the Westminster Village know the identity of the person who accused Nigel Evans of raping him. Yet this person continues his life knowing that for reasons best known to himself he has put Nigel through eleven months of hell. I think he dug himself so deep that he began to believe his own lies. He needs to ask himself some very searching questions. So does Sarah Wollaston MP. She no doubt felt she was exercising a duty of care towards the man who cried rape. She clearly believed his story, but today she must also be asking herself if she acted properly throughout this sorry saga.
But the two institutions who emerge from this will real stains on their reputations are the police and the Crown Prosecution Service. From their public statements they seem to think they did nothing wrong. I and others will not rest until they are made to come to terms with their poisonous agenda, wicked actions and duplicity. How on earth could they bring charges on behalf of four people who didn’t want them brought, didn’t consider themselves victims, and all of whom praised Nigel Evans. One even texted him good luck.
Many parts of our criminal justice system are broken. If their failures in this case are swept under the carpet the same thing will happen to someone else. But we won’t ever hear about it. Because that person won’t be called Nigel Evans. He will be Joe Bloggs.
