Friday, October 28, 2016

Woman took own life after her stepfather was cleared of repeatedly raping her


Juliet Crew, 22, was found hanged and had left a note saying she felt let down by the legal system. Her stepfather, Nigel Parkin, 60, was found not guilty in 2012 of sexually abusing her for seven years from the age of nine. 


The "outgoing and bubbly" architecture student had told a court Parkin sexually touched and raped her at least ten times.

Parkin was cleared after he said Juliet and another alleged victim were both suffering from mental health problems.

Juliet's body was found hanging by her mother, Judith Parkin, in August last year in the hall of their home in Taunton, Somerset.

Taunton Coroners Court heard the strain of the legal proceedings took a severe toll on Juliet's mental health. 

In the months before her death, her weight plummeted, she self-harmed and overdosed on medication, the inquest was told.

Nigel Parkin pictured outside court in Somerset
the step father


In a suicide note, private school girl Juliet said she had been failed by the judicial system.

It read: "The judicial system in this country, especially for victims of sexual offences, is disgusting.
"There is no justice. It only confirmed that I cannot trust people. I do not want to live in a world where there is no justice."

Juliet's mother Judith told the inquest: "She felt that she had been let down by the authorities, specifically the justice system and the mental heath services.
"She was astounded that Nigel Parkin was still at large among vulnerable people.
She never recovered from this feeling of injustice."

Parkin's trial heard Juliet, who attended Queen's College School in Taunton, told a teacher at her school in Autumn 2010 that he had sexually assaulted her.

Although she went on to achieve top grades in her A-Level exams and began studying architecture at Nottingham University in 2011, her mother said "she lost her sparkle".

Juliet was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in Autumn 2014 and in January 2015 was prescribed anti-depressants, sleeping pills, and anti-psychotic drugs.

Her mother told the inquest: "At the end of April 2015 she took a massive overdose. One month later she took another overdose.

"She lost a lot of weight and she was a bag of bones. She weighed about six and a half stone."

Alan and Fiona Crew, father and sister of Juliet Crew, pictured at Taunton Coroners court
Juliet's father Alan and sister Fiona 

Giving evidence, Juliet's father Alan Crew, said: "I'm left with a feeling of dreadful failure. Juliet was failed by the people she trusted and by the authorities.

"The full extent of her mental health problems were unknown to me.

"The failure of the trial in 2012 to convict Nigel Parkin and the failure to have a retrial clearly had a serious effect on Juliet."

The trial at Taunton Crown Court in 2012 accused Parkin of befriending two youngsters before sexually assaulting them.

He was accused of brushing up against one 11-year-old girl as he gave her piano lessons - before allegedly groping her chest.

He then allegedly moved his attentions on to a younger girl - later revealed to be Juliet - aged just nine.

He was accused of sexually touching her and later raping her on more than ten occasions until she was 16, prosecutors claimed.

Parkin denied 17 charges - including rape, indecent assaults and sexual assaults - some of which were said to happen in his car.

During the trial, Prosecutor Sarah Regan said: "She said she was raped on ten occasions and indecently assaulted on about another ten occasions."

The court was told she kept the alleged attacks a secret until she was 17, in 2010, when she confided to her headmaster after he gained her trust.

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