A few days later the police took it upon themselves to view the CCTV which we had advised them to do during questioning and realised the complainer was never in the staircase. The footage showed the complainer taking the lift up to the 3rd floor before entering through an open door into Brian’s flat. The police confronted the complainer with the CCTV evidence and she confessed to fabricating the whole 14 page staircase story. Surely that would be the end to the matter…or so we hoped, but Lothian & Borders Police had other ideas in dealing with their predicament. Disturbingly the complainer was encouraged to change her statement five days after giving her original statement. It had become quite clear the complainer had been caught lying yet she was given every opportunity by the authorities to change her story to fit the evidence we had already submitted during our interviews. The complainer now stated she was enticed up to Brian’s flat on the pretence one of her male friends was present…claiming she was then raped by us three in the flat. Instead of the complainer being charged with wasting police time we found ourselves being committed to trial for crimes none of us committed. The police had made a serious mistake in charging us prior to viewing the CCTV and the only remedy available to them was to permit the complainer to give a totally different statement thus eliminating any misgivings on their part in reference to them totally ignoring our ‘Counter Complaint’. Amazingly the Police Officer in charge of our case, DCI Deas was given a ‘ feather in his cap’ after our convictions and duly promoted.

We were committed for trial mid October 2000 (Edinburgh High Court) under the jurisdiction of judge, Lady Paton. Our defence team consisted of Mr Jim Keegan (Solicitor Advocate), Mr Maurice Smyth (Solicitor Advocate) and Mr David Young (Advocate). The Advocate Depute with the responsibility of prosecuting us was a lady called Anne Smyth who for informational purposes was promoted to a senior judge shortly after our convictions. The complainer was the first to give evidence in court and under cross examination admitted to fabricating evidence. She admitted inventing the stairwell story but amazingly now insisted she was raped in Brian’s flat. As in most rape cases it’s the complainer’s word against the accused and this case was no different. The complainer also stated in court that no-one vacated the flat whilst she was seemingly being the victim of a rape. Whilst she was in the flat and having sex with Brian, Kevin and I departed to a nearby 24 garage. Our journey was on CCTV. When confronted with this evidence the complainer said she was mistaken in suggesting no-one had left the flat whilst she was still present. In court our lawyers referred to her allegations as being ‘similar to a script from a movie’. We were determined to give our testimonies as innocent men would, and stated the fact we had had sexual relations with this female within Brian’s flat…reiterating these were consensual actions. Other prosecution witnesses gave conflicting evidence with one even going as far as stating the complainer seemed fine immediately after the alleged crime. Amazingly we were found guilty by majority verdict which totally ruined our lives. We were innocent men yet it seemed the jury were more interested in morality than justice. We were imprisoned and sentenced to a total of 18 years.

Admitted to prison came as a great shock to us three and our families but we had no intention of remaining ‘silent victims’ of a deeply flawed criminal justice system. Immediately we relieved our solicitors of their duties and instructed a new legal team to give Notice of Appeal via the High Court. Eventually things started to take a turn for the better when we were released after 7 months pending Appeal. Our lives were put on hold for just over a year before we attended the Appeal Court (June 2002). The Appeal consisted of various points of law and we were hopeful for a favourable decision…we still couldn’t believe that innocent people could get sent to prison. Our Appeal was rejected as the criminal justice system satisfied itself that it had been right all along. With no fuss we were dispatched to Peterhead Prison to serve the remainder of our prison sentences. more....