A Nigerian businessman Kayode Modupe-Ojo is suing the Durham police for malicious prosecution and wrongful imprisonment after he was falsely accused of rape by his ex girlfriend Joanne who happens to be David Beckham’s sister.
The 28-year-old former spa owner who spent 3 weeks in jail says he ‘lost everything’ as his reputation has been destroyed because police failed to investigate properly his ex’s fictitious allegations
Joanne who he met on internet gave a harrowing but entirely false account of being tied up and moved around the north-east of England against her will, after a sexual encounter turned terrifyingly violent.
Mr Modupe-Ojo, who has lived in Britain since the age of three, was dragged from his bed by the police, handcuffed and questioned for three days without legal representation before being charged with multiple counts of rape and kidnapping. On the basis of the woman’s lies, Durham Police declared he was ‘a danger to women’ and he was remanded in jail for three weeks.
Mr Modupe-Ojo was acquitted when his trial at Newcastle Crown Court collapsed last year due to glaring discrepancies in the prosecution case. But he said that by then the damage had already been done;
‘The judge directed the jury to acquit me, but my reputation was left in tatters’… ‘There are people out there who think, “no smoke without fire”. There was ample CCTV evidence and witnesses to prove she was all over me in public, but the police didn’t seem to be interested in proving my innocence. They seemed convinced they had their man.’
When the female officer told me I would be remanded because I was a danger to women and a flight risk, my legs buckled. I had done nothing wrong, yet I was facing a lengthy prison sentence if found guilty,’ he said.
Further charges for firearms offenses and a threat to kill were dropped because no weapon was found in his flat.
Once Mr Modupe-Ojo’s case came to trial, alarming discrepancies emerged. The accuser claimed she had known her attacker for years. Yet in her opening message on Facebook, she admitted they’d never met. She said she had been tied up and moved around against her will. Yet it emerged she texted her boyfriend to tell him she was OK.
‘She told the court I had stolen her phone and written the text. But this fell apart when it was revealed she had also texted her friend to say happy birthday and called her mum while we were together.
‘I lost everything. I was even evicted from the gated community where I lived after women residents complained about living with a potential rapist,’ Ojo said.
But what hurts him most is that the stigma of being a rapist still follows him ‘like a bad smell’. It is the key factor – along with his financial losses – in his decision to sue the police. ‘I want it made clear I did nothing wrong and I was the real victim.’
Ojo recalls how it all started after he responded to a ‘friend request’ on Facebook from Joanne in August 2013;
“She was very attractive. We texted and Skyped each other before meeting. She was the driving force behind our meeting and I was flattered by her attention.’
During their time together Mr Modupe-Ojo took the woman to restaurants, a club and they stayed in two hotels which she booked and paid for. He also drove her home to pack an overnight bag and spent 30 minutes talking with her mother.
‘My accuser was alone in her room upstairs and could have used her phone to call for help if I had been the mad rapist she made me out to be,’ he added. ‘I told all of this to the police questioning me I also gave them the passwords to my phone and laptop so they could check the correspondence between us.’
He still has text messages she sent after they parted. There were also numerous CCTV images of the pair cuddling, kissing and holding hands,’ he said
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