© Tom Blewitt & Zack Griffiths – Predator Awareness

A young woman has spoken of her devastation after being told that a police investigation into allegations of rape and sexual assault dating back to when she was a child has been closed.

The victim, who we will not identify, says she was just around 12 when the alleged offences took place.

For almost six years, she says she has waited and fought for justice, only to receive a phone call informing her that the case would not be taken any further.

She said: “It’s been open six years on the 16th and apparently they had nothing so they just discarded it.”

The woman says she also has a voicemail from police confirming that the case against the alleged offender had been dropped.

After spending years waiting for answers, the decision has left her feeling that the justice system has failed her.

Speaking about the devastating impact the alleged attack had on her, she revealed that she almost took her own life on the night it allegedly happened.

She said: “He didn’t even get done and the night he did it I almost took my life.”

Her account demonstrates the enormous emotional impact that allegations of childhood sexual violence can have on a victim, particularly when the criminal justice process continues for several years without resulting in a prosecution.

She also says that during the investigation, the alleged offender’s mother told police that he had mental disabilities. According to the victim, she was told that this was not the case.

The victim says she has now even been asked whether she wants clothing held in connection with the investigation returned to her — another painful reminder that, after almost six years, the criminal investigation has come to an end.

For someone who says she was only 12 when the alleged offences happened, the decision represents the end of a process which has followed her through a significant part of her teenage years and young adulthood.

She has been left questioning how she could spend almost six years waiting for justice only to ultimately be told that there was insufficient evidence for the case to continue.

The alleged offender will not be named. The victim will also remain anonymous, in accordance with the legal protections afforded to victims and alleged victims of sexual offences.

The focus must now remain on the young woman at the centre of this case: someone who says she came forward about an extremely serious allegation from her childhood, endured a police investigation lasting almost six years and has now been told there will be no prosecution.