Author: Edward Bartlett

Falsely Accused Day 2024: Report from the Tower of London

Sean Parker

September 11, 2024

With campaigners for Lucy Letby’s innocence all over the news, Falsely Accused Day 2024 took place outside the Tower of London in central London. The Brian Buckle Massive, including the recent exoneree himself, were out in force, with excellent attitudes and picture t-shirts galore.

FASO (Falsely Accused Support Organisation) CEO Margaret Gardener opened proceedings with a brief history of the movement, going back to the organisation’s founding in the early 2000s, and her husband’s own false allegation.

Brian Hudson, tireless secretary of FACT (Falsely Accused Carers & Teachers) was up next. Hudson not the first to call out the fact that the new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, was the very man who introduced the ‘believe the victim’ policy to the Crown Prosecution Service in the early 2010s, leading to the epidemic of false allegations we see today.

Brian Buckle gave a beautifully moving talk about his journey from false allegations dating from 1992, the pain of trial and imprisonment, and long struggle for exoneration following. Brian and his family recently heard he wasn’t entitled to compensation as he couldn’t ‘prove he was innocent,’ so the already momentous achievement of being exonerated by the Appeal Court is still apparently not enough in trying to recoup some of the £500,000 spent on legal fees.

Dr Kevin Felstead, formerly of the British False Memory Society (BFMS), spoke about his organisation’s work over the years, and how false memories are still being weaponised when therapists think they could get away with it.

There was a rare public appearance by former policeman William Merritt, author of a brilliantly thorough book about the allegations against world-famous artist and presenter Rolf Harris. Merritt spoke eloquently about everything he had discovered in the writing of that book, and how an allegations can snowball with the collusion of an incentivized media.

This author had a word about the work of Empowering the Innocent, FASO, and the recognition of the ‘courtcraft’ used in the Lucy Letby reports in many accounts of wrongful convictions. Pop producer and songwriter Jonathan King delivered his conviction that Keir Starmer would at some point soon have false accusers coming for him, and find himself (metaphorically) in the ancient Tower opposite the demonstration.

Representatives from Spoken Injustice, the Falsely Accused Network, and individual campaigners were also present, and co-demonstrations in Liverpool and around the world were far from forgotten. Let alone the cases from previous decades — in just the 2020s, the cases of Johnny Depp, the Postmasters, Julian Assange, Andy Malkinson, and Lucy Letby have elevated the chronic problems of the justice system into public consciousness.

The attendees of IFAD 2024 knew these were ‘not the only ones’, to say the least. The movement continues to grow, because the truth will always out.

INTERNATIONAL FALSLEY ACCUSED DAY: REPORT FROM ENGLAND

By Lyn Crabtree

September 11, 2024

As founder of Falsely Accused Day — now International — I’m proud to report we had a rather successful day here in England on September 9.

Where I was in Liverpool outside His Majesty’s Prison, our numbers this year were somewhat smaller, naturally people find weekdays to attend more difficult due to work commitments. However, the fantastic support from passing vehicles was at some points overwhelming, as we tried to speak huge blasts of horns were battled with. The message however was still heard loud and clear.

Passing prison officers even took some interest in our displays once again we had our faceless victim masks with us. These always bring tears to my eyes seeing the sea of masks of those who were not heard in UK courts and have lost their lives to false allegations.

Amongst our display we had our Snowdrops. We are of course continuing our Snowdrop Campaign, and yes, we will eventually complete our mammoth task of getting out the message to all those who contribute to False allegations like the police, courts etc…

We had no official speakers in Liverpool, just Jo Wheeler and myself. This gave us more time to engage with those who were either falsely accused themselves or supporting someone who is. It was daunting to hear some of their stories. So much of each case having many similarities, one wonders how these stories can even be believed by the police to start with. ‘Believe the victim’ being a huge part and no evidence but the words of a liar!

We were pleased to welcome supporters for Lucy Letby. I’m sure this horrendous story will have been prominent in the media for you all. Lucy aged 34 who was a neonatal nurse was accused of killing seven babies and damaging a further seven.

Many are supporting Lucy to have a fair trial. I hope she does have that opportunity, because after seeing the way our trial went and listening to others about their experiences, it seems that getting a fair trial is what those falsely accused suffer the most.

I was able to read the following poem that I had sent out to prisoners in the UK who are wrongly convicted….

International Falsely Accused Day

We’re into our 4^th Year,

So we really want to say,

Let’s gather to make this incredible,

For our 4^th International Falsely Accused Day,

The fight will go on forever,

Until changes are made in the law,

‘Believe the victim’ mantra,

Is that HUGE major flaw,

As you sit and read my words,

Remember we fight for the Falsely Accused every day,

By letter, email, and social media,

You’re in our thoughts and hearts – One day ‘THEY’ will pay!

I was appalled to hear that some prisoners were denied having the support letter and poem. I was sad that they would think they were forgotten this year.

I also told a real story of a man who having being bullied all his life ended up being falsely accused as being a danger to children. He was not convicted as no one actually made an official complaint to authorities, and he to this day has been so badly affected by these terrible rumours that he can not leave the house. How awful that some people are affected so much by False Accusations that it literally wrecks their lives.

Partway through our demonstration, we had a very welcome visit from LBC radio. The spoke to Jo Wheeler and I. Jo certainly had lots to say  as she was being interviewed. The reporter chatted to a few others and proceeded to take film footage of us and our displays. I am not sure of when this maybe aired but we felt positive that we will be heard by many as the false allegation message reaches far and wide, because we all know, False Allegations are Not rare!

London Observance

In contrast to Liverpool, London had the following speakers:

• Margaret Gardner, who heads the support group, Falsely Accused Support Organization (FASO)
• Brian Hudson, from FACT
• Dr. Kevin Felstead, author of Memory and Injustice
• William Merrit, author and investigator for the book about Rolf Harris’s innocence
• Jonathan King, Ex-TV personality and DJ
• Sean B W Parker, on behalf of Dr. Michael Naughton
• Brian Buckle, who was falsely accused of rape, after a very expensive appeal and 5 years behind bars is finally free.

A successful day was had by all and the speakers were well received. Buckle’s speech brought tears to the eyes of some onlookers as his family who fought tirelessly for his innocence stood by him.

Conclusion

To close, I’d like to express my delight at seeing so much activity on social media about events for IFAD from the USA, Argentina, Spain, India, and of course the UK.

So now we move on to our next step which is Men’s Equality Month.