Caroline Flack Dead

Many people who work in the media ( all types) contribute to the mental health problems that ‘ordinary’ people face. Quite frankly, they should take a long hard look at themselves, the values they promote, the emphasis on body image, the whole cult of celebrity. CF was part of this world. Because she’s dead doesn’t make her an innocent in all of this.

For me the ‘takeaways’ from this thread are that some posters haven’t a clue about how the criminal justice system works, the nature of domestic violence /abusive relationships and mental health

No one condones DV no matter who the perpetrator is. Working in the media must be the worst place for anyone who has mental health problems because everything is out in the public eye and social media makes it worse. She must have felt desperate. Very sad for her family.

I believe CF was taking anti-depressants
Gosh so does half the population!

That was to Ellan

Oh dear

It's usually a man who's caused a woman to act in this way to start
with.Jealousy/mistrust etc.

Nope
DV does ramp up if there is cause for jealousy, or a hint that the partner might leave. But it has to be there in the first place in order for it to increase at times lile that.

It's usually a man who's caused a woman to act in this way to start with. Jealousy/mistrust etc.
I believe CF was taking anti-depressants so the signs were already there that pointed to the state of her MH.

Up to now there's been nothing said concerning a former ex-boyfriend who now lives in Australia, so if nothing comes forthwith then problems began in this last 2 years since the present boyfriend came into her life. She'd have had the same pressures that most of these people have, back then, but it was never highlighted.

Wouldn’t want to speculate about Caroline there’s been so much in the press about her in the last few months, and her relationships, feel sad for anyone who takes their life regardless of who they are, thoughts are with her family, at this very sad time

Such a shock, a terrible loss of someone so young. We never know the minute do we?

A child can share their concerns, their worries , my elder daughter always shared with me. Not the night she took her life, what someone does when mentally ill cannot be foreseen
by a mother, grandmother, psychologist, you can fear it but
will not know when it will happen.

Had she been a male, there would have been little sympathy

I dont agree exactly
I think its more to do with people liking her public persona
People can't accept that someone they liked who was a "street angel" could also be a "house devil"
Its the same for "likable" male celebs accused of DV TBH.

I’m really sad this has happened, not because I was a fan of Caroline Flack, tho loved her dancing in strictly, but with an obviously supporting and loving family, access, because of her wealth, to all therapy, rehab, and medication, that no one could get through to her, that there is light eventually.
Her poor mother will probably never forgive herself, she has lost her beloved daughter, Caroline was a sister, aunty, and granddaughter, they have all lost her.
I am so fortunate to day, my fifteen year old gd is here, doing revision for her GCSE’s we are studying, eating bacon sandwiches, laughing, choosing her prom dress online, I’m saying that’s much too low cut! We have also talked about Caroline and my gd has promised to talk to us if ever she feels that desperate. My heart goes out to Caroline’s family.

Spot on annie

If the case had been dropped there would have been the usual
posts claiming - money can buy you etc

I only saw Caroline Flack when the lovely Kathy Burke did an interview with her for a programme on women. Caroline seemed quite ok on the programme. I do not watch any reality television or know anything about a court case, so could not comment. Condolences to her family and friends. Its very sad the circumstances. One thing I would say, I used to be on Twitter- never again! There are some very strange people on it. I did not like the experience and do very little social media.

I am astonished by the amount of hypocrisy displayed on Gransnet and the rest of social media. Whilst she might have been a very troubled soul with mental health issues, by all accounts she attacked somebody viciously whilst they were asleep and defenceless. Had she been a male, there would have been little sympathy but many of the posts on here talk about her beauty and vivaciousness as if that somehow makes a difference. Chris Brown was absolutely slated for his attack on Rhianna and it will always be referred to, as it should. I strongly believe that anybody who deals out domestic abuse should be dropped from show business the moment a conviction is secured. We need to show a no tolerance approach to this so those who are successful know that they will suffer the consequences to their appalling behaviour.
Victims often soften after the original call to the police and are blind to the danger they are in. Imagine the hell which would have broken loose if she had been allowed to contact her boyfriend and then done something that ended in the loss of life. Yes, it is sad that she felt the need to take her own life but abuse is something you can control or face the consequences of your actions.

Deifying and sanctifying someone who has died in sad circumstances helps no one. If I knew any of CF’s friends or family I would be kind to them of course at the moment but that’s another matter altogether.

I have to agree with those who say to attack a sleeping person with a lamp and leave them bloodied, even if that person then denies that is what happened, is a pretty violent act, for heaven's sake she could have killed him, and again I would reiterate if the assailant had been a man and the victim a woman, would the Twitteratti have shown the same level of sympathy if a prosecution ensued.

I think it's understandable to feel sorry for anyone who takes their own life, but recognise that person may well have had some unpleasant traits. Before her death, one of her neighbours gave an interview where he alleged she would return home in the early hours of the morning, party noisily for hours waking up those who lived directly above her, and when asked her to reduce the noise she refused. Celebrities such as Caroline Flack are expected to project a professional persona to the public, possibly one that is quite false. In her case it quite possibly belied the troubled individual she clearly was. It's a great shame she took her own life and didn't get the appropriate help.

This is from a Metro article dated 23 December 2019.

[At Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court]: “In reference to the 999 call, Katie Weiss, prosecuting, said: ‘He [Burton] is almost begging the operator to send help... He had been asleep and had been hit in the head with a lamp. His face was covered in blood. She had seen text messages which had led her to believe he was cheating on her.’

Weiss said Burton told the operator: ‘I’ve just woken up, she has cracked my head open. She tried to kill me mate.’

Weiss argued: ...’he received significant injury to his head.’

Weiss claimed that a body camera worn by a police officer captured the injury, and said the footage and 999 call would be used during the trial.”

metro.co.uk/2019/12/23/caroline-flack-hit-boyfriend-lamp-lewis-burton-tells-police-tried-kill-11952182/

It sounds like the CPS had good evidence. Victims of domestic abuse do quite often not want a prosecution to go ahead, but it’s in the public interest if it does. The CPS were just doing their job.

I can't see why the CPS had to prosecute except that she is female and they wanted to make an example of her.

Its because it is hard in DV to reach the threshold for prosecution. Often once the police are on the scene the victims story changes to protect the abuser. That didnt happen in this case, his statement matched the 999 call and there was physical evidence on the scene.

The evidence met the threshold which is often hard to meet
Clear 999 transcript
Victim statement
Physical evidence

Why wouldnt they prosecute?

Do some posts on here really represent the general public’s understanding of how the criminal justice system operates? If do god help us all

Paperback as others have said, sufficient evidence was gathered at the time for the CPS to prosecute. It’s not in the gift of victims to decide whether a prosecution should happen. There are se versa reasons for this - including as others have said that victims could be coerced into withdrawing charges as in ‘If you press charges I’ll beat you up again’ and also why should a perpetrator of domestic violence go unpunished on one persons say so and be free to attack that person again or someone else. Honestly, do we have to keep repeating thes self-evident facts? It’s getting tedious

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?

Thats not what happened
He called 999. There were transcripts
The police arrived and he again gave a statement to the police
The police witnessed a violent scene
He later tried to "drop charges" which you cant do in cases like this.
She breached her bail conditions.

The police cant just make a case reach thr threshold for prosecution for fun!

The CPS had a solid case which met the threshold for court.
They had 999 recording of the boyfriend describing the incident AND his statement in person saying the same at the scene as well as what the police witnessed at the scene.

In non civil cases particularly involving violence you cant decide "not to prosecute" as it is in the public interest to prosecute.

The threshold for prosecution is prohibitively high, yet this case met it.

Its not uncommon for victims of DV to not want to leave or go to court. That doesnt mean that the courts should just let it go away.