What should an innocent man do to clear his name?
By Scarlet MccGwire

BRITISH legal history it might have been. But the end of the UK’s first case of a woman being sued for slander after accusing a man of rape left a tacky aftertaste. For two weeks, the jury had listened to two entirely different accounts of a relationship and read love letters and diary entries.

Finally, they could not decide. Last Friday, the Jury foreman told the Judge that hell would freeze over before they came to an agreement. The woman, Ms B, who has been granted anonymity for life, hopes that it is the end of a five-year nightmare which she can finally put behind her.

It all began so well. They were both young people who worked togther for the immigration service. She was also an aspiring actress, doing serious roles in fringe theatre. They were both emotionally needy, and she says that his insecurity expressed itself in the way he belittled her. "He started criticising me. Saying horrible things that really hurt and made me feel small. Then we started arguing over sex. He wanted it a lot, and because I was acting in the evening, I was too tired," She claims.

"I know I should have left, but sometimes he was so nice, and I thought I had the key to make him like that all time. If I could make the relationship works, then we could both be happy."

She felt that, for him, she became a sexual object. Sex was for his pleasure, whenever he wanted. And ultimately, unwillingly she consented. Twice, she said, he had sex with her as she fought him off, using sheer physical strength instead of argument to get his way.

I will never forgive what he did to me. He looked at me while he did it and his eyes were just full of sheer hatred. Afterwards, I asked him why he did it and he said that he hated me, and I was his property to do as he wanted." Still she did not leave.

The opposing advocate in the legal case claimed that Ms B’s former lover had no hold over her. They had no children, she had her own flat, she was not materially dependent on him and was never beaten. She feels he has missed the point. "It was an abusive relationship. I was emotionally entrapped. I wanted him to love me. He made me feel that I was nothing and I wanted desperately for him to make me feel that I was something."

Her former lover, Glyn Kirpalani, who lost his anonymity at the begining of the case, disputes her whole story of the relationship. He says there was no abuse and vehemently denies the rapes. He claims that Ms B made the allegations out of the blue, months after the relationship ended.The jury was asked to decide between the two versions from interpretations of Ms B’s love letters and extracts from her diary but couldn’t decide whose version of events to believe. What was written in private became public property. Druing one interchange between Ms B and Kirpalani’s advocate over the interpretation of a phrase, Ms B protested: "But I didn’t write this letter for you or the jury to see. I wrote it for Glyn."

Both sides discovered that when the bedroom comes to court, any phrase, action or deed can be examined in public. Would any of us like our intimacies laid bare? It was only after the relationship finished that Ms B went to her bosses at the immigration service and complained of harassment by Kirpalani. When she told them that he had raped her, they suggested that she should go to the police, which she did. The Crown Prosecution Service decided not to pursue the case.

Ms B thought the whole matter had been resolved when both she and Kirpalani agreed to drop all allegations against each other and he was transferred to another office. Then the summons for slander dropped through her letter box. Kirpalani had decided that he would take legal action as a means of clearing his name.

"I was scared stiff. I didn’t know how I was going to defend myself. I didn’t have any money. I just cried my eyes out, " Ms B says.

Ms B contacted the British campaigning group Justice for Women, who immediately found her a barrister, James Price QC. "He has just been wonderful. " Finding a defamation solicitor who would work for nothing was more difficult. Finally Amber Melville Brown from Stephens Innocent agreed: "I took the case on because she could not have defended herself without a solicitor. It’s probably cost my firm about £ 60,000 (US$, 96000) but it was an important case - and not just for her."

Justice for Women was worried that the case would set a precedent. If Kirpalani won, it would encourage thousands of aggrieved men to sue. As in much of real life, the outcome messy. And unsatisfactory for both parties.

For Ms B a court case that she never wanted is finally over. The hung verdict is a disappointment, although she can get on with her life. But Kirpalani, who swore that it was vindication he wanted, rather than vengeance or money, has received a lot of publicity and owes tens of thousands of pounds in legal fees.

An acquittal in a criminal court means a man is innocent. But civil cases are less clear cut. The jury’s failure to reach a verdict means that Glyn Kirpalani did not clear his name as he wished. In a recent interview he said: "She portrayed me as an abusive monster and sadly, mud sticks."The case highlights two competing issues. What should an innocent man accused of rape do to clear his name? And will even more women now hesitate to complain about rape knowing that they may be accused of slander? (Guardian)