Sex attack survivor Ulrika Jonsson says rape convictions have plummeted so low “it’s no longer a crime”.
The TV presenter, who was date-raped in a hotel room when she was 19, said the 30% drop in convictions last year was like taking a backwards step.
She blasted the Crown Prosecution Service for only pursuing the strongest cases, claiming sex attackers were getting away with it.
Ulrika, 53, said: “How difficult the CPS are making it for the police to put forward cases that unless there’s a very good prospect of conviction, then forget about it.
“Which means that clearly there are incidences where sexual assaults and rapes are taking place and people are getting away with it now because it’s no longer a crime.”
After Ulrika revealed her ordeal in a 2002 memoir, she received some sympathy but felt others questioned whether she had made it up.
The TV presenter says the 30% drop in conviction last year was like taking a backwards step (Image: 2017 HGL)
Though she needed hospital treatment for her injuries she said it never occurred to her to report it because it happened at a hotel.
She said: “People were like, ‘Why didn’t you go to the police?’ Because there was no such thing as date rape in those days.
“Women are kind of born culpable. It’s always somehow our fault.’’
Though more historic crimes are investigated now, Ulrika said she did not think about reporting it because there were people close to her to consider. She said UK prosecutors had taken a “backwards step” in sex crime investigations.
Ulrika revealed her ordeal in a 2002 memoir as she said some people didn’t believe her (Image: 2013 Manchester United FC)
A report by Victims’ Commissioner Dame Vera Baird showed the number of prosecutions for rape in England and Wales in 2019-20 was at its lowest level since records began – and 30% lower than the previous year.
Dame Vera blamed a change in CPS policy that meant weaker cases were weeded out to improve the low conviction rate.
Ulrika said: “It’s all about figures.”
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman declined to comment.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
