‘I was out of the country and I’m not physically capable – but a rape allegation is ruining my life’

A former military police officer says he has been driven to the brink of taking his own life after being falsely accused of rape three times.

Paul Nugent, 59, from Heywood, has made official complaints to Greater Manchester Police’s Professional Standards Branch over what he claims is Rochdale division’s failure to bring charges against his accuser for making the false allegation and, he says, ‘ignoring’ evidence which would have established his innocence.

Instead, he says, he has battled for two years to clear his name amid the ‘stigma’ of being a rape suspect.

Mr Nugent says he told police about medical evidence which showed he suffers from Peyronies Disease, which he says renders him physically incapable of rape, but that officers ignored the evidence.

The ex-military cop claims that he was repeatedly assaulted by the woman. However, he says that he found out by using a ‘subject access request’ (SAR) procedure to access police reports that he had been identified as ‘a high-risk abuse perpetrator’, by a police officer he had never met.

During four months of the eight-month period the rape was alleged to have taken place Mr Nugent was working in Bulgaria as a health and safety officer for a Burnley-based company, he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), but says evidence of his absence from the country that he offered to Rochdale GMP’s investigators was not collated.

He says that on three occasions between May 2019 and March 2021 police attempted to bring charges for sexual assault against him, but in each case, the Crown Prosecution Service said there was no evidence to charge him.

Mr Nugent says he is also pursuing a private prosecution against GMP via a law firm based in Bolton which specialises in claims against the Force and that the cost of trying to clear his name, including hiring a private investigator, has topped £15,000.

Mr Nugent said: “Not one piece of evidence I pointed the police to in order to establish my innocence has been investigated by Rochdale GMP.

“How can they arrest someone and then not investigate their evidence and just send them away is so very wrong. I am suffering from the stigma of being arrested for such an offence.

“Police have destroyed my whole life because they failed to do their job correctly. Their treatment of me has left me feeling I can no longer trust them.

“I now no longer wish to live, and I am under counselling for anxiety, fear, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). No one is allowed to just turn up at my house now. I fear every knock on my door, and I wake up at night in severe panic attacks. I no longer trust the police. I am currently being treated for PTSD, depression, and anxiety.”

The former Royal Military Police officer has served in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

During his career he was attached to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and worked in a large number of British embassies worldwide.

He has made specific allegations against eight officers based at Rochdale GMP and another officer at the Professional Standards Branch (PSB).

They include claims that police refused to allow Mr Nugent to bring charges against the woman for obscene and malicious communications. He says an officer also failed to recover important evidence from his family or the electronic devices and mobile phone the woman.

His allegations also suggest police:

• Failed to investigate threats and intimidation made against Mr Nugent and failed to request Mr Nugent’s telephone records, showing he had received malicious calls from the woman. An officer also failed to retrieve the mobile phone or telephone of the woman, who admitted making the calls.
• Failed to conduct an investigation into a false allegation of rape as stipulated by CPS guidelines and failed to examine flight tickets, confirming that Mr Nugent was not in the UK for 50 per cent of the time the alleged offences were said to have been committed. Mr Nugent claims they failed to follow CPS guidelines which state that relevant evidence must be collected, including text messages, emails, witness evidence, employment records (showing he was working in Bulgaria), medical records and social media posts. “Not one piece of evidence was ever requested, retrieved or allegation investigated,” said Mr Nugent.
• Breached Mr Nugent’s human rights under Article 7 of the Human Rights Act for arresting him for walking around Hollingworth Lake at a time when there were no restrictions imposed on him and detaining him against his will.
• Withheld evidence proving Mr Nugent’s innocence ‘on a number of occasions’, failed to speak to witnesses, Mr Nugent’s employer and failed to follow CPS guidelines over investigating false allegations of rape.
• Failed to complete the investigation over a period of two years, failed to contact, advise or inform Mr Nugent that the case had been handed over to a colleague. Mr Nugent said he found out from the CPS in August 2021 that they were never contacted by this officer or any other officer from GMP and there was no investigation into the false allegations of rape against him.
• Assured Mr Nugent that all evidence had been recovered from him in relation to the false allegation of rape and would be sent to the CPS. On 10 August 2021, Mr Nugent says he received correspondence from the CPS stating they had never been contacted by GMP to investigate a false allegation of rape.

Mr Nugent has submitted 45 items of documentary evidence – seen by the LDRS – which he says back up his claims to the authorities.

Meanwhile, in January 2019, Mr Nugent was visited by a friend of more than 30 years who was a serving police inspector in Hampshire (now retired).

The former police officer, who does not wish to be named, said he witnessed a ‘violent attack’ on Mr Nugent, Although Mr Nugent cited his friend as proof of the woman’s aggression against him, the ex-inspector claims he has never been contacted by GMP to verify this incident.

He told the LDRS: “GMP has failed Paul as a victim throughout the whole process which has gone on for a number of years. The way they have gone about this investigation beggars belief. I’ve known him for 30 years and he’s a really nice guy. It’s a disgrace.”

Mr Nugent has also complained to the GMP Chief Constable Stephen Watson, Metro Mayor Andy Burnham and the commander of Rochdale police, Chief Supt Nicky Porter and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) via the Greater Manchester Deputy Mayor Baroness Beverley Hughes. None of his complaints have so far been upheld.

A GMP spokesperson said: “Since 2019, GMP’s Professional Standards Branch has received nine contacts from Mr Nugent – some of which were repeats of previously investigated/ considered complaints or appeals. The majority of these have now been closed with no misconduct identified – one remains under review and another, made on Friday, December 30, 2022, is awaiting assessment.

“The force is aware that Mr Nugent has also requested that Greater Manchester Combined Authority review his complaints/appeals. It would be inappropriate to comment any further at this time.”

A clinical hypnotherapist who has been treating Mr Nugent, has written a letter to GMP. This letter has also been seen by the LDRS.

In it, they said: “Mr Nugent has a heart problem which he has been prescribed essential medication for, but he had stopped taking the drugs as he felt it was preferable to die, rather than be tainted by what he said were totally false charges being laid against him.

“The severity of his symptoms left me in no doubt that Mr Nugent had developed PTSD and due to his time in the military, and what he had experienced during his career, he has begun to exhibit signs of complex PTSD.”

They pointed out that Mr Nugent is a military veteran ‘highly regarded by his peers’.

They went on: “Mr Nugent had become afraid of police officers arriving at his home unannounced, and tricking him into attending interviews at the police station, by saying they wanted to speak to him about one thing, but when he arrived at the station they would tell him it was for something else more serious.”

They said they had contacted the Detective Chief Inspector in the case themselves, copying in the Chief Constable of GMP, in which they explained the ‘fragile state’ of Mr Nugent’s mental health.

“I felt this was being greatly challenged by the unannounced visits to his home, and I asked them to please notify Mr Nugent in advance of when they would be coming, so he could be prepared for each meeting,” they wrote.

They added: “It is hard to calculate the level of injustice Mr Nugent feels about the lack of professionalism within GMP, but it is impossible to help Mr Nugent eliminate his PTSD symptoms while he remains so embroiled in every twist and turn of this case, and while he feels his reputation is under immense attack.

“He continues to suffer from anxiety, hypervigilance, chronic insomnia, chest pains and headaches. I remain seriously concerned for Mr Nugent’s state of mind.”

Nick Jackson, Local Democracy Reporting Service