The demonisation of women who drink influences the police, CPS and juries,
Dave Gee, the former head of Derbyshire CID claimed in an interview.

Defence barristers have admitted how they use an alleged victim's alcohol consumption to deliberately undermine her claim that sex was not consensual, from arguing drinking had loosened her inhibitions to saying it explained why she had slept with an unattractive man!

How a defence counsel can use this -

Marion Smullen, head of chambers at One Inner Temple Lane, who frequently acts as defence counsel in rape cases, said:
"However much politicians want to change the attitudes to rape, juries are still fairly judgmental where alcohol is concerned. It's certainly something that helps me as defence counsel."

A typical defence would be to argue that the woman consented to sex because she was drunk and then cried rape when she regretted it in the morning, she said.

Women drinking is still regarded as not quite right by a lot of juries. If they think maybe the woman has contributed in some way by being drunk, they will be reluctant to send someone to prison"


Gee observes that -
'Victims who had been drunk were seized on by defence counsel as "manna from heaven", '

Fears that alcohol consumption could wreck a case were used by some officers and individuals in the Crown Prosecution Service to decide a case was not worth bringing to court ie it would hit their clear-up rates.
But a handful of convictions secured recently in cases where victims had been drinking showed that if detectives put the effort into securing the evidence and the CPS was "bold" enough, it could pay off.

Gee continues -
"My advice to cops is: investigate.
If someone gets their car nicked or their house broken into and their DVD player's gone, then you start an investigation, irrespective of the respectability of the victim"