A woman who says she was raped by a man she had been on a date with has told the BBC she was left “devastated” after prosecutors decided to drop her case. Annie Tisshaw says her mental health “really suffered” during the year-long investigation, and she was then told the CPS would not proceed further.

A report shows the number of rape convictions in England and Wales is at its lowest level since records began. There were 1,925 convictions in 2018-19 – a 27% drop from the previous year. This was in spite of allegations of rape reaching a high of 58,000 in England and Wales. Campaigners say the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has changed its approach in rape cases – no longer building rape prosecutions, but screening cases out if they think a jury will not convict. This is denied by the CPS, which has announced a review of its decisions in rape cases.

Annie, who has waived her right to anonymity, told the Victoria Derbyshire show that she was raped in her own flat after she had been on a date with a man she had met a few times before. She says she reported the incident straight after it happened, handed over her phone, and the case was passed by police to the CPS, who told her it was “a positive case”.

“I’ve done everything right that you should do and then at the end, nearly a year later, I was told there were inconsistencies in the case.” Those included CCTV from earlier in the night, which showed she wasn’t looking “particularly scared or nervous”, and text messages sent before the alleged rape, she says. “This was a guy that I trusted, this was a guy that I had met before, so obviously at that time I didn’t know it was going to happen,” she says.(BBC)…[+]