Woman paid £35,000 for child welfare services' decision to drop rape case after 'sexsomnia' allegation | Rape and sexual abuse

A woman received £35,000 in compensation from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after her rape case was dropped. The allegation was that she may have suffered from a rare sleep disorder called sexsomnia.

Jade Blue McCrossen-Nethercott, 32, contacted police in 2017 when she was 24 after waking up to find herself half-naked and feeling like she had been raped in her sleep.

Three years later – and days before the man who allegedly raped her was due to go on trial – lawyers for the CPS said her case would be dropped because two sleep experts had considered it possible that McCrossen-Nethercott had been having an episode of sexsomnia – a medically recognised but rare sleep disorder that can cause a person to perform sexual acts in their sleep while appearing awake and consenting. The case was dropped and the defendant acquitted.

In 2022, McCrossen-Nethercott sued the CPS after it admitted her rape case should not have been dropped. Now, the BBC has reported that she has been paid £35,000 by the CPS. The CPS said it had “apologised unreservedly” and was “committed to improving every aspect of how life-changing crimes like rape are dealt with”.

McCrossen-Nethercott said the CPS had taken her “to the darkest points of my life” and it “felt like a great triumph to be able to hold them accountable.”

“It's taken a lot out of me, but I've held on to a lot of positive things. I'm really proud of the work that I and the Centre for Women's Justice have done to get to this point,” she said.

Kate Ellis, joint litigation director at the Centre for Women's Justice, who represented McCrossen-Nethercott, said victims' claims against the CPS were “legally difficult” and payouts were “extremely rare”.

“This is, as far as I know, the first case where a rape victim has been awarded compensation by the CPS because of a decision to discontinue proceedings before trial,” she said.

“The fact that we were able to enforce this claim is a testament to the seriousness of the failure on the part of the CPS.”

In the BBC programme “Sexsomnia: Case Closed?” McCrossen-Nethercott said she woke up half-naked at 5am and accused the man she was with of raping her.

“I confronted him and said, 'What happened? What did you do?' And he said something strange, I think, but he said, 'I thought you were awake.' And he just stormed out and left the door open,” she told the BBC.

In her distress, she called a friend, the police came and took her for forensic examinations. Vaginal swabs revealed sperm that was later identified as belonging to the man.

The suspect made no comment when initially questioned by police. When McCrossen-Nethercott gave her statement, she was asked about her sleep and said she had always been a deep sleeper and had sleepwalked a few times as a teenager.

When the case was dismissed, McCrossen-Nethercott demanded all the evidence and was shocked at the importance given to the testimony of sleep experts she had never met.

Other experts said sexsomnia could not be ruled out, but other legal experts said they had only heard of it being used as a defense to rape allegations.

A CPS spokesman said: “An agreement has been reached with Ms McCrossen-Nethercott. We have apologised unreservedly to her and wish her all the best for the future.”

“We remain optimistic about the progress made, but we recognise that we still have a long way to go to improve the situation for victims so that more people can confidently speak out.”

Earlier this year, the Observer noted that the use of “sexsomnia” as a defence argument in criminal trials was becoming increasingly common, finding 80 cases over the past 30 years in which defendants accused of rape, sexual assault or child sexual abuse claimed they were sleepwalking or suffering from sexsomnia at the time.