False allegations as social executions

On 29 May 2025, I lost my husband to suicide after malicious false allegations were made against him by his ex-wife and daughter.

People talk casually about allegations. They call them "claims", "reports", "complaints". But sexual offence allegations are not just words. They are social executions. The moment an accusation is made, punishment begins long before any evidence is tested.

Your reputation is placed under suspicion. Your future becomes uncertain. Your entire life is suddenly hanging over an abyss created by nothing more than an accusation.

For my husband, that weight became unbearable.

But I want to make something very clear: the people who truly knew him believed him.

His friends believed him.

His colleagues believed him.

His customers believed him.

The tragedy is that he withdrew into himself. He could not bear the shame and horror of what was happening. He stopped speaking to almost everyone apart from one close friend. He internalised the fear, the humiliation, and the belief that no matter what evidence existed, the stain of those accusations would follow him forever.

And after he died, the support came flooding in.

Friends. Neighbours. Former colleagues. Customers from his dog-walking business. People who trusted him with their homes, their pets, their families. Person after person came forward in shock and disbelief, describing the same man: kind, patient, generous, gentle, incapable of the things he was accused of.

That support mattered deeply to me.

But it came too late for him.

My husband was an intelligent, thoughtful man who researched everything. He understood exactly what he was facing. He knew about the Moorov doctrine. He knew about Sections 274 and 275. He understood how evidence helpful to the defence can be excluded from sexual offence trials, and how juries are often prevented from hearing the full context surrounding allegations and credibility.

He also knew something else: once accused, proving innocence is not enough to restore what is lost.

He had evidence.

Text messages.

Witnesses.

Documented lies.

Previous harassment.

Patterns of manipulative behaviour.

But he believed the system would never truly give him the opportunity to clear his name. The legal process had barely begun, yet he already felt condemned. 

And, before he ever had the chance to defend himself in court, he took his own life.

That is what false allegations can do.

And, make no mistake: false allegations are real.

After my husband died, further evidence emerged. We received written correspondence from an organisation his daughter had been involved with, confirming complaints from others about distressing behaviour, harassment, and allegations involving other individuals. There was a pattern. There were warning signs. There were serious credibility concerns that should have mattered from the beginning.

But too often, once an allegation is made, institutions stop investigating objectively and start operating from assumption.

We are constantly told the system seeks truth.

But increasingly, it appears more focused on securing convictions than uncovering facts. And, when politics begins influencing justice, innocent people become collateral damage. We now have a system where crucial defence evidence can be excluded, where the Moorov doctrine can effectively turn allegations into corroboration, and where juries may never hear the full picture necessary to properly assess credibility. At the same time, compensation schemes exist where allegations alone can result in financial awards, in some cases without a conviction, without a trial, and even without the accused being named. And, if the accused is acquitted, the compensation is often never reclaimed.

What message does that send?

Meanwhile, almost 80% of cases now called in the High Court involve sexual offences. Conviction rates have become political currency, while safeguards for the accused are increasingly treated as inconveniences rather than necessities. And, despite Supreme Court rulings, despite public concern, despite lives being destroyed, nothing meaningful changes.

Since my husband died, I have personally become aware of three more men who took their own lives after false allegations.

Three more.

And, I have absolutely no doubt there are many more we never hear about.

This is not rare.

This is not insignificant.

And, this is not acceptable.

I am angry.

I am heartbroken.

And, I am deeply disappointed in a government and judicial system that failed my husband completely.

But that anger gives me strength. Because I refuse to stay silent.

The people who made these allegations tried to destroy my husband. They tried to silence me, too. They reported me to the police. They attempted intimidation. They expected grief to make me disappear quietly.

It has done the opposite.

I will speak.

I will fight.

And, I will continue speaking for the people who never got the chance to defend themselves.

My husband was not the monster they painted him to be.

He was a loving father, a devoted partner, a loyal son, and one of the kindest men I have ever known.

He deserved the chance to defend himself.

He deserved fairness.

He deserved justice.

And, I would not be writing this if I had even the slightest doubt about his innocence.

We will not go away.

False accusations are real.

And, they are destroying lives.

By Renate Farkas

Member, Justice for Innocent Men in Scotland (JIMS)

Justice for Innocent Men in Scotland 

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