Police release distressing fictional rape video as part of campaign to increase prosecutions

Police in Leicestershire have released a distressing short film designed to improve conviction rates for rape and serious sexual assaults.

The uncomfortable five-minute video opens with a scene depicting a fictional rape, and goes on to dramatise how loss of evidence can jeopardise a potential court case.

In the professionally-produced film, which police claim would carry an 18 rating in a cinema, a woman is attacked by her husband.

As successive shots show her running a bath and deleting messages on her phone the man is seen to walk free from prison.

Nearly half of rapists are related to their victims, Leicestershire Police said.

A second film, to be released later, will show the events leading up to the attack.

The “All Is Not Lost” campaign also features a separate clip of a woman recounting her own rape and how immediately reporting it saw her attacker jailed for eight years.

The woman, who was raped by a friend’s partner, said: “I was raped in my own home by someone I considered as a friend.”

In an interview with the BBC, she added: “Before his car was even barely out of my street I was on the phone to the police.

“The first thing you want to do is get in a bath and rid yourself of anything to do with your attacker, but by doing that you are letting them keep that control.”

She feared it would be her word against her attacker’s, she said, but added in the video: “I know you probably worry that people won’t believe you, but the police will.”

Assistant chief constable Julia Debenham said she wanted the films to “make the public think twice about their views, assumptions, and possibly unconscious prejudices”.

Andrew Baxter, deputy chief crown prosecutor for the East Midlands, said: “Prosecuting rape cases often comes with particular challenges. In many cases, the offence takes place in private, away from any witnesses and the issue to contest is whether the victim consented or not.

“A prosecution for rape will focus on the actions of the defendant and not any myths and stereotypes that surround sexual offending, such as what the victim was wearing or how they appeared to be behaving. Sexual activity without consent is a crime.

“I would urge victims to come forward and tell the police exactly what has happened. Regardless of how long ago an incident took place, whilst we cannot guarantee to charge every allegation of rape, we can promise that we will take the allegation seriously and the victim will be provided with as much support as possible.”