Sex nightmare': 'The claim that ruined my rape case'

 Emma Ellis

 The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) threw out Jed McCroson's rape case after he claimed he suffered from 'sexsomnia'.  As a result, the Crown Prosecution Service does not feel they will be able to convict the offender.  But Jade has challenged the decision and has spent months re-opening her case.

 The Crown Prosecution Service admitted it had made a mistake by not prosecuting the case and has apologized unconditionally to Jade.  But what was wrong in all this?  The BBC has detailed the events of Jade's trial.

 It was one night in the spring of 2017 when Jade awoke to find herself half-naked on the couch.  Her necklace was broken and scattered on the floor.

 Jade, 24, realizes with horror that she has been raped in her sleep.  Three years after the incident, and days before the trial of the man she accused of raping, Crown prosecution lawyers called her to an emergency meeting at a south London police station.  .

 His alleged rape case was being dismissed.  The prosecution counsel explained to him that two experts had given their opinion in his case.  They said it was possible that Jade suffered from 'sex somnia' because the details of the case made it appear that Jade was awake at the time of the rape and that it involved her consent.

 Sexsomnia is a sleep disorder.  People suffering from this disease have sex in their sleep.

 According to the law of England and Wales, sexual intercourse or sexual intercourse with a person while he or she is asleep cannot be deemed to involve consent.  However, the law also states that if there is 'reasonable evidence' of consensual sex between two people, it does not fall under the category of rape.

Jade had never heard of such a term as sex somnia before.  He said, "I don't know where it came from."  It was very strange.

 'I've had two long-term relationships in the last 13 years and I've never done it.'

 The Crown Prosecution's dismissal of Jade's case meant that their case would now be closed and the accused would officially go free.

 The first time Jade was asked about her sleep, she went to the police station to give a formal statement.

 In response to a police officer's question, she said that she was always a deep sleeper and had sleepwalked several times as a teenager.  It was an unnecessary phrase uttered by her and she had forgotten it before her case was dismissed.

 It was Jade's best friend, Bel, who initiated the whole process by first informing the police.

 His friend Bell remembers Jade's voice on the telephone line that day.  "It was nothing I had ever heard before," she says.  She was distraught and crying, saying 'I think I've been raped.' When your best friend says that to you, the earth shakes.'

 Jade and her best friend Bel

 That evening, the two friends went to a bar in South London, drank wine and put on make-up together, and left hand in hand.

 It had been a good evening for them, with food, drink and lots of talking, but when it was almost time to leave, Bell called a taxi while Jade went to a friend's flat with some people for one last drink.  What was the decision?

 At about two o'clock, while people around her were still talking, she laid down on a sofa in the living room, covered herself with a blanket and fell asleep, fully clothed at that time.

 When she opened her eyes at five o'clock in the night, her pants and underwear were off, and she found a man also lying on the couch where she was lying.

 I asked him what happened?  What have you done to me?  And he answered something strange but he said that 'I thought you were awake.'

 'And he immediately left and left the door open, I picked up my phone and immediately started calling Bell.'

 After Bell called the police, two male police officers arrived and took Jade straight away for forensic tests.  A medical examination of the vagina proved that they had had sex with him and the semen samples found on the sofa were also of the man.

 The suspect had no comment when initially questioned by police.  The Crown Prosecution decided to file a formal charge of rape against him, but the suspect pleaded not guilty and a trial date was set.

 But the matter never went beyond that.

Jade had never heard of such a term as sex somnia before.  He said, "I don't know where it came from."  It was very strange.

 'I've had two long-term relationships in the last 13 years and I've never done it.'

 The Crown Prosecution's dismissal of Jade's case meant that their case would now be closed and the accused would officially go free.

 The first time Jade was asked about her sleep, she went to the police station to give a formal statement.

 In response to a police officer's question, she said that she was always a deep sleeper and had sleepwalked several times as a teenager.  It was an unnecessary phrase uttered by her and she had forgotten it before her case was dismissed.

 It was Jade's best friend, Bel, who initiated the whole process by first informing the police.

 His friend Bell remembers Jade's voice on the telephone line that day.  "It was nothing I had ever heard before," she says.  She was distraught and crying, saying 'I think I've been raped.' When your best friend says that to you, the earth shakes.'

 Jade and her best friend Bel

 That evening, the two friends went to a bar in South London, drank wine and put on make-up together, and left hand in hand.

 It had been a good evening for them, with food, drink and lots of talking, but when it was almost time to leave, Bell called a taxi while Jade went to a friend's flat with some people for one last drink.  What was the decision?

 At about two o'clock, while people around her were still talking, she laid down on a sofa in the living room, covered herself with a blanket and fell asleep, fully clothed at that time.

 When she opened her eyes at five o'clock in the night, her pants and underwear were off, and she found a man also lying on the couch where she was lying.

 I asked him what happened?  What have you done to me?  And he answered something strange but he said that 'I thought you were awake.'

 'And he immediately left and left the door open, I picked up my phone and immediately started calling Bell.'

 After Bell called the police, two male police officers arrived and took Jade straight away for forensic tests.  A medical examination of the vagina proved that they had had sex with him and the semen samples found on the sofa were also of the man.

 The suspect had no comment when initially questioned by police.  The Crown Prosecution decided to file a formal charge of rape against him, but the suspect pleaded not guilty and a trial date was set.

 But the matter never went beyond that.

Jade was determined to prove that the Crown Prosecution was wrong to dismiss her case.  But they had limited time to appeal.

 He requested to provide all the evidence including police interviews, medical examination reports, witness statements and expert reports and started scrutinizing it.

  What he read shocked him to learn that the views of sleep experts were given so much weight in this particular trial.

 Neither expert met him personally but his opinion was given enough weight to dismiss his case.

 The first sleep expert, instructed by the defense counsel, concluded that there was a 'strong possibility' that Jade suffered from sex somnia, and stated that 'her behavior was similar to that of someone  It can be of a person who is engaged in sexual activity with open eyes and expresses pleasure.'

 In response, the Crown Prosecution itself hired a sleep expert.  He concluded that 'a long history of sleepwalking, constant sleep talking or any such symptoms in a family member are enough to make someone suffer from sexsomnia.'

 Jade was at a loss for words.  'I don't understand how this [sex somnia] could be an episode, why it only happened when I didn't consent to having sex with someone who had sex with me,' she says.  wanted.'

 Jade decided to consult a sleep specialist in person.  And in this regard contacted Dr. Irshad Ibrahim at London Sleep Center.  Dr. Irshad Ibrahim also has experience in giving expert opinions on rape cases.

Jade's case was the first he had come across in which the complainant had been described as suffering from sex somnia.  In all other rape cases that came before him, the defendant claimed that he was the victim of a sex somnia.

 The BBC carried out extensive research and found no other rape case in the UK where the defense argued that the complainant had sex somnia.

 Dr. Ibrahim explained that scientific research is limited and there is no definitive way to diagnose sex somnia.  But he said people who have the disease are usually men and have a history of sexual behavior in their sleep.

 Jed then underwent a sleep test called polosomnography, which monitors and examines brain waves, breathing and body movements during sleep.

 The test showed that she snores during sleep and has a mild case of sleep apnea, a condition common in deep sleep that involves stopping and pacing of breathing during sleep.  According to Dr. Ibrahim, these two factors could have been possible triggers for sex somnia, so he could not rule out that she might have had a sudden attack of sex somnia.

 Jade wanted to know if sex dreams were responsible for what happened to her.

 Dr. Ibrahim said that it was a very important question to answer in clear words whether it was responsible or not, it is not possible to say.

 Jade still believes she doesn't have sexsomnia, but she's frustrated that sleep experts don't rule it out.

 He approached a lawyer to learn more about how the courts view the disease in favor of defense counsel.

 Barrister Alison Summers has defended rape cases where the accused men claimed to suffer from sex somnia.

 He told Jade that sleep experts could never definitively diagnose someone with the condition, but saying 'it's possible' could be enough for a jury to decide not to convict.

 "Do I think that as a result, some guilty people get off or get acquitted?" he said.  Yes, I think so, but then again I would like to do the same because instead we are convicting people of serious crimes who are not really guilty.'

 'All I can say is that you hope that the criminal trial process will enable the real cases to be weeded out from the less real cases.'

 According to CPS rules, sex somnia and other sleepwalking defenses should always be vigorously challenged in court.

But Jade's case never went to court.  Along with his research, he filed an appeal in court for his case.

 The Chief Crown Prosecutor, who is independent of the CPS, the dismissing body, re-examined all the evidence.  They concluded that the case should have been heard in court and that the sleep experts' opinions, and the defendant's testimony, should have been challenged in court.

 He said the jury was more likely to convict the defendant.  He said it was necessary for the CPS to take the case to court.

 He wrote to Jade: 'I can't imagine what you have been through and what you must have felt.  I have seen the devastating effects on you during the revision of this case.

 "I apologize to you on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) even though I know it will not be enough for you."

 The admission for Jade was that the case should be brought before a jury and that CPS could not present the case again.

 The suspect in the case was not officially found guilty, which means he cannot be tried without new evidence.

 "There is no hope of justice in what happened to me," says Jade, but she hopes CPS doesn't put others through similar ordeals.

 "The very system designed to protect them has disgraced them and they (CPS) have clearly admitted they made a mistake," she says.

 According to UK Home Office figures from 2021 to September, police prosecuted the suspect in only 1.3 per cent of rape cases in England and Wales.

 The CPS says: 'They are committed to improving every aspect of their service to serious and life-changing crimes such as rape and are working with the police to improve the way they deal with them.  can go.'

 Jade is now suing CPS for damages.