The law chief accused of pursuing a show trial against tragic Caroline Flack has insisted ‘I was right to charge her’.
Love Island host Caroline, 40, took her own life at her London home in February less than three weeks before her trial was due to begin.
She was charged with assaulting her boyfriend, model and ex-tennis pro Lewis Burton, 28, with a bedside lamp at her £1million North London flat on December 12.
Ed Beltrami has pointed to what would have happened if Flack attacked her lover Lewis Burton again because the Crown Prosecution Service had dropped the case.
The law chief, who was North London area head of the CPS, admitted he had never heard of Flack when he took on the high-profile case.
Ed Beltrami, the law chief who was accused of pursuing a show trial against Caroline Flack has insisted ‘I was right to charge her’ (Image: PA)
But in an interview with Wales on Sunday he said: “You’ve got to do what you think is right. You cannot do what you think is popular.”
Mr Beltrami admitted the case had left him troubled him since the star’s death but he insisted the right decision had been made.
He insisted the protection of domestic abuse victims relies on the CPS sticking the course.
Mr Beltrami added: “When you make that decision to proceed with case you have absolutely no idea that the defendant is going to take her own life.”
Caroline took her own life at her London home in February less than three weeks before her trial was due to begin (Image: PA)
At Flack’s first court appearance on December 23, the prosecution said that when police arrived to investigate a 999 call.
They said Caroline and Lewis were covered in blood and one officer likened the scene to a horror movie.
But Lewis refused to support the prosecution and wanted the charge dropped.
Mr Beltrami said the case was referred to him for a final decision.
He added: “To be absolutely frank with you I had never actually heard of her.”
Mr Beltrami said the decision to prosecute was the right one, despite criticism from celebrities including Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan.
The star was charged with assaulting her boyfriend Lewis Burton with a bedside lamp at her North London flat on December 12 (Image: Instagram)
He said: “You don’t just fold at the first sign of trouble – the fact that the victim doesn’t want to know.
“You’ve got to look at whether you can prosecute without the support of the victim.
“Domestic abuse has a high risk of repetition, a high risk of the offending escalating, so you have to look at that.
“The facts of this case were the guy had made his complaint, he had phoned the police, he was terrified he was going to be killed, he’s been hit over the head with a weapon, namely a lamp, he’s got a cut to his head, and she’s made an admission to the police at the scene. So in the general principles of domestic abuse you say, ‘Well I’m going to proceed without the victim because I’ve got the admission, I’ve got the complaint from the victim which I’ll try to get in, I’ve got the physical evidence of the cut to the head and the mess in the flat which has been filmed by the police’.
The law chief said he had never heard of Flack when he took on the high-profile case (Image: PA)
“But obviously when you make that decision to proceed with case you have absolutely no idea that the defendant is going to take her own life. You can’t possibly anticipate that sort of thing.”
After her death, Caroline’s management team said the CPS had pursued her even though they knew she was vulnerable.
They said: “The CPS should look at themselves today and how they pursued a show trial that was not only without merit but not in the public interest.”
But Mr Beltrami, who is now beginning a new job as chief prosecutor for Wales, said not charging somebody accused of domestic abuse could have led to tragedy for the victim, with the CPS blamed for it.
He added: “Supposing we had made a decision not to proceed, which we could have done, and she goes back to live with the boyfriend and she loses her temper again on another occasion, hits him a bit harder with a lamp or with something else, and he dies.
“How would that look then?”
Caroline’s death sparked a public wave of grief.
Her words Be kind were used in a web campaign urging people to treat each other better on social media.
Caroline’s family declined to comment to People when informed of the law chief’s remarks.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
