03/02/2020 Economou v David De Freitas (Rev 1) [2016] EWHC 1853 (QB) (27 July 2016) Mr Economou's name, mentioned Ms de Freitas by name, and referred to her forthcoming Court appearance. 32. Ms de Freitas was summoned to appear in the first instance before Westminster Magistrates' Court on 11 September 2013. Further hearings took place at Southwark Crown Court on 25 September, 15 November and 29 November 2013. On 5 December 2013 the CPS resolved to take over and to continue the prosecution. There was a further hearing on 13 December 2013. 33. During this period, Mr Economou discussed the allegations against him, and his private prosecution of Ms de Freitas, with a number of people. In his witness statement he names 148 people whom he says were aware by the end of 2013 of the rape allegations that had been made against him. In crossexamination he said that he had told many of his friends what was happening whilst he was under police investigation. He told "a lot of people", including someone by the name of Queree who ran a portfolio of shares for him, whom he met 8 to 10 times a year, his chiropractor, the chiropractor's secretary, his hairdresser, and his caretaker. He suggested the list could be expanded to 300 if he put his mind to it. The discussions went into detail, he said. 34. On 24 January 2014 there was a Plea and Case Management Hearing ("PCMH") at Southwark Crown Court before HHJ Taylor. Ms de Freitas was arraigned and pleaded not guilty. A trial date was set, of 7 April 2014. On 4 April, three days before her trial date, Ms de Freitas died. She had taken her own life. Needless to say the case did not proceed. There was a short mention of the case at Southwark Crown Court on 7 April. 35. A Coroner's inquest into Ms de Freitas' death had to take place. The matter was within the jurisdiction of the Coroner for West London. Mr de Freitas was concerned that this should be a thorough inquest, addressing the conduct of the CPS in taking over the prosecution of his daughter. In and between August and November 2014 he enlisted support from Jonathan Clements at the charity Victim Support, Shona Crallan of the charity Inquest, and Harriet Wistrich of the solicitors, Birnberg Peirce. Ms Wistrich and Ms Crallan made contact with Sandra Laville of The Guardian, who wrote three of the articles complained of. Of those I have named here, Mr Clements, Ms Crallan and Ms Wistrich have given evidence at this trial and been cross-examined. 36. It was on 1 August 2014 that Mr de Freitas made contact with Mr Clements. He and Polly Rossetti of Victim Support helped Mr de Freitas write letters to the Coroner and to the DPP, both of which he sent on 19 September 2014. To the Coroner he alleged that "there were a series of failings of both public policy and practice which I believe warrant full investigation as part of the inquest." To the DPP he wrote seeking answers to a series of questions about the decision-making of the CPS. 37. On 25 September 2014, whilst awaiting responses to these letters, Mr de Freitas made contact with Inquest, by sending an email to its website. He wrote that he had been recommended to do so by the charity MIND, as the matter "involves 'multi-agency failure and questions of corporate and state failings and accountability'". As a result, he was contacted by Ms Crallan, a case worker at Inquest. She undertook to see if she could find a lawyer to assist him. On 17 October 2014 Ms Crallan emailed Harriet Wistrich of Birnberg Peirce, suggesting that there might be a case for an "article 2 inquest". This was a reference to an inquest giving effect to the duty of the state pursuant to Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights to conduct an effective investigation where it appears that a death may have resulted from state action. Ms Crallan acknowledged that this might be a difficult case in which to sustain that argument, but suggested that in any event the case warranted "a thorough inquest hearing". She identified the "main claim" as being against the CPS, and noted that "the father … hopes that evidence will come to light which will enable him to bring a civil claim against the CPS". 38. Ms Wistrich took on the case and wrote the Coroner a detailed letter containing submissions of fact and law in support of an application to adjourn the inquest, then fixed for a short hearing on 7 November 2014. This did not succeed. The Coroner wrote a letter to Ms Wistrich on 30 October 2014 which he stated "can be read as my ruling on your submissions". He declined to grant the application for an adjournment saying that he was "not persuaded … that this inquest engages Article 2" and that he considered that the witnesses and statements that had been provided for would be sufficient to enable him to answer the four questions he was required by statute to answer. He also anticipated that he would be able, on that evidence, to decide whether his statutory duty to write a Prevention of Future www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2016/1853.htm 8/58