Caroline Flack Dead

Very sad.

Why do the CPS have much to answer for Psalmody? They were presented with the facts of the case and proceeded as they would for any other case i.e. the facts they were presented with at the time. Are you suggesting that celebrities, or those who have mental/emotional ill health, should not face the same lines of enquiry?

If the police were called he would have given a statement

Caroline Flack was the presenter on Love Island, not a contestant, merlotgran. I watched the last series and she came across as warm, kind, incredibly competent and very sweet. Depression is a vile thing. What I find hard to comprehend is the nerve of Piers Morgan who has in the past criticised her and said awful things about her yet is now saying, "what a tragedy". Awful man.
As for her trial - I was amazed it was going ahead as her boyfriend didn't want her to be charged. If he'd offered no evidence, surely it would have been thrown out? The police do love a celeb case though, don't they?

What have the CPS to answer for in this case precisely Psal? Deciding to prosecute a celebrity? If you, like many others, are trying to blame the CPS for her death, then that’s a thoroughly irresponsible thing to be doing?. Or maybe you’ve got the whole evidence file, have interviewed everyone concerned, and are a senior prosecutor of many years standing ?

The CPS has much to answer for.

Oh Ellen you can be vulnerable and commit a crime and be prosecuted or be a thug( whatever that is) and completely innocent. Your posts are really scary.

EllanVannin - " The CPS should not have been involved. If lawmakers can't differentiate between intent and a mental health problem then forces need to be re-trained in what they're dealing with. How many times have police arrested a person and thrown them into a cell only for that person to be found to have MH problems ?

I'm sure many of us remember the story of the elderly blind man with a white stick which police mistook for a sword ? and the result was that the old man was tasered.

Police are too quick in judging at times and to my mind, this Flack case shouldn't have gone to court. Whether the boyfriend pressed charges,I don't know but somehow I doubt he did as only a prosecution would involve the CPS so where/who did the charges come from ? Questions are going to be asked."

I saw this on Twitter from a barrister, which could explain why the boyfriend not "pressing charges" (which, as I understand it, a member of the public cannot do) doesn't preclude a prosecution going ahead.

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Cases cannot be dropped simply because a complainant doesn’t want their partner prosecuted. Such a system would reward those who successfully coerce victims to withdraw. Sometimes cases must be pursued without the consent of the alleged victim.

//It’s beyond me how anyone can suggest that ‘mental health’ problems should prevent anyone being charged with assault. This assault is alleged to have taken place when the victim was sleeping. He dialled 999 and I read the tape was played in court, he said “she tried to kill me”.//

Iam64 I agree. It’s beyond me too. If someone was alleged to have hit one of my children with a lamp while they were asleep I’d want them brought to justice no matter what mental health problems they had.

Isn’t it up to the judge to assess the person’s state and degree of responsibility?

It’s very sad. I don’t know what thoughts were going through her mind.
Rest in peace Caroline x

tillybelle I don’t think FB comes into it
As far as I see it’s was twitter and instagram accounts on which she and her boyfriend were posting She had been advised by the court to keep off social media

Unfortunately we live in an age where reality shows seem to interest huge swathes of the general public and they (public) feel they come to 'own' the personalities who are associated with them. So the whole thing becomes surreal for the presenters and even the participants - if you live in such a surreal bubble your mental health can't fail to suffer and we know that suicide is proportionately higher among people who have this experience. Caroline Flack bore the brunt of the media and became mentally fragile. This is an awful story. Personally, I think Love Island is absolutely trash and that the people who are foolish enough to allow their self-concepts to be damaged in the interests of becoming minor celebrities (I mean the participants) will rarely emerge as 'whole' people. I blame the money-grabbing TV companies. I'm really sad that this young woman felt so low. Why in heaven's name don't these employers (and I know she was replaced) provide proper mental health care for people in the spotlight.

Very sad news

It’s beyond my how anyone can suggest that ‘mental health’ problems should prevent anyone being charged with assault. This assault is alleged to have taken place when the victim was sleeping. He dialled 999:and i read the tape was played in court, he said “she tried to kill me”.

It’s tragic that this young woman took her life. It isn’t the fault of anyone, her boyfriend, the police, the CPS. It’s a tragedy.

Nothing will change.
They’ll still be a queue of people ten miles long, desperate to get on these reality shows - & to present them.

The only way it will stop is if TV companies just stop making these programs, like they did with Jeremy Kyle.

Last week news papers were running her into the ground and this week they are saying how sad that she has taken her own life.... The media has a lot to answer for. Her soul flies free x

I detest shows like Love Island and Big Brother. The world of Facebook is a very dangerous place too, in many ways.

All this fame by reality shows is very disturbing for the Participants and the Producers should be far more responsible about how it affects them.

And I certainly damned them when they didn’t ?

Well that's the point pinkquartz. Due to the documentaries you mention, there was a public outcry so the CPS started responding to that by being more vigorous about domestic abuse. That's what they meant by damned if they do and if they don't

And of course no one locked up in our dreadful prisons was vulnerable at all when prosecuted were they? Just not celebrities I expect.

For pity’s sake pink so we shouldn’t prosecute perpetrators of domestic abuse who have ( or may have) mental health problems? Or any one guilty of any crime with a mental health problem? That’ll work well.

i haven't seen Caroline Flack on TV for many years...she was a presenter on I am A Celeb etc.....
I can't see why the CPS had to prosecute except that she is female and they wanted to make an example of her.
As others are saying she clearly had mental Health issues and they should have left her alone.
Her boyfriend wasn't allowed to be near her, bail terms I think.
She was 40 years old, not really a young woman, but clearly a vulnerable woman and I think she has been bullied by the CPS.
I see enough examples on TV documentaries like 24 Hours in Police Custody to know how hard Police usually have to work to get them/CPS to say yes to prosecuting. When a man attacks a woman.
I hope this is more deeply investigated.

Two good posts Sue and Ready. If a person is judged fit to plead ( and as I said it’s a very complex decision with rightly a very high bar) the trial goes ahead. Their mental state might be relevant to degree of culpability ( again a high bar) and would be taken into account at the sentencing stage. ( following a psychiatric evaluation).

I think one has to be pretty unbalanced in the first place to even apply to go on one of these reality shows

There must have been a lot of evidence even if they both denied the assault as the CPS let many more cases go it’s really hard to get them to take a case through unless they are pretty sure they will get a positive result
It’s a real shame, and she must have been in a real bad place even before the assault she sounded quite uncontrollable that night
Jeremy Kyle was pulled immediately one man committed suicide (quite right) I m amazed that after was it two or three suicides Love Island is still being shown surely it must go now My teenage grandkids (girls) all watch it and are really into it (unfortunately) they get really excite when a new series starts I hope we ve seen the end of it for good