Justice for sex attack victim who killed herself
The mother of a young woman who killed herself after a horrific sexual assault has thanked the lawyer who helped bring her daughter's attackers to justice.
She praised Crown Advocate Caroline Hughes, left, for supporting her during the case, which shocked even hardened detectives.
"The CPS doesn't always get a lot of praise in the media, but they do a fantastic job," she said.
Caroline, from North West London Prosecution Service, advised police pre-charge before the victim had been identified, reviewed the case and acted as junior counsel in the trial of one of the three defendants.
The victim, a 20-year-old single mother of two, had drunk two bottles of wine at a barbecue, which was also attended by Adam Sorrenti, David Hedges and Kyle Scott.
The three men subjected her to a series of sexual offences in front of her distraught four-year-old son while filming the attack on a mobile phone.
Detectives began investigating the case when Sorrenti showed the video to a friend. Disgusted by the film the man, a convicted armed robber, went to the police. Sorrenti's ex-girlfriend then identified the two others.
Sorrenti, left, denied he had taken part in the attack, claiming the film had been down-loaded from the Internet.
On Caroline's advice police consulted a phonetics expert to establish which of the men had said what on the mobile recording.
With the three facing charges the victim, who had told police she did not want to press charges, committed suicide.
Still traumatised by her ordeal and distressed after her children were taken into care, she took an overdose of anti-depressants. "After her death we did consider manslaughter charges, but concluded that the causation wasn't there.
"We couldn't prove that she killed herself as a result of the assault," said Caroline.
Following the tragedy, the prosecution successfully applied to use hearsay evidence in the form of the tape recording of the victim's interview with police.
Sorrenti, 19, and Hedges, 22, pleaded guilty to assault by penetration, and Sorrenti a further charge of sexual assault.
After a five-day trial at Isleworth Crown Court Scott, 21, left, was found guilty of one count of assault by penetration.
In her role as junior counsel Caroline, six years with the CPS, prepared a skeleton argument relating to the coroner's report on the death of the victim - the coroner ruled accidental death.
For the trial she drew up the admissions schedule - the toxicologist's report which determined the victim's level of unconsciousness at the time of the attack and expert evidence relating to amnesia.
At the start of the hearing she and leading counsel Beverly Cripps introduced themselves to the victim's mother.
Whenever the video was due to be shown as evidence, they ensured that a police officer alerted the mother so she could leave the court.
Caroline handled the subsequent sentencing hearing - last December - herself. Sorrenti was given an indeterminate sentence, Scott received 10 years and Hedges was jailed for four years.
"This was one of those cases where you really want to prosecute those accused of such awful crimes," said Caroline.
The officer in charge of the case, Det Con Mark Roope, added: "This was an emotionally draining and complicated enquiry but the professionalism and advice offered by Caroline was one of the main reasons behind the success of the prosecution."
- Following an application from Det Con Roope, a police charity has awarded the victim's children £500 each, which their carers have placed in savings accounts.