Barrister says ‘dead woman was put on trial’ after husband cleared of manslaughter

Trybus’s defence argued the case had echoes of the French Revolution, where innocent people had been swept up by a cause that was ultimately trying to achieve a positive aim, and compared Trybus to Mr Cellophane from the film Chicago, likening Baird to Roxy, a murderer who manipulates her husband.

Thorne also made a direct appeal to the men on the jury, saying: “You might feel very afraid now, because if you enter into a relationship with a woman who’s making allegations against you, even if they turn out to be untrue, you will be prosecuted even if the allegations are uncredible, you will be prosecuted.”

Proudman said: “[The defence] claimed there is an ‘agenda’ to believe women by the criminal justice system when in fact it barely prosecutes rape and routinely retraumatises victims. That claim is false and misleading.”

She also criticised the defence for “telling male jurors to be afraid of false allegations”, saying they were “vanishingly rare” and represented less than 2% of reports made.

In response, Thorne said: “This trial was prosecuted by the most senior prosecutor in the country and presided over by a senior high court judge whose background is in discrimination law. Had I said anything to the jury which was improper or did not reflect the evidence in the case, the prosecution and the judge would have objected. They did not.

“Dr Proudman was not present for any part of the trial and did not hear any of the evidence. Her comments do not accurately reflect what was said to the jury and show a limited understanding of the facts of the case.”

However, Janaya Walker, the interim director of End Violence Against Women, said that many women were “treated as suspects” by the criminal justice system after dying by suicide. “Successive governments have rightly taken action to address the fact that the criminal justice system and courts are often a site of harm and retraumatisation … with high dropout rates and low prospects of justice.

“However, we can see that harmful sexist beliefs about women are still widely prevalent, with women treated as suspects even after they’ve died by suicide – this includes a culture of disbelief and wrongful claims about false allegations, which are exceptionally rare.”

Although the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has yet to see a successful case in a jury trial for a prosecution of manslaughter after a suspected suicide related to domestic abuse, it has said it will consider bringing cases where there is evidence to do so.

A spokesperson for the CPS said: “We respect the decision of the jury. They have heard all the evidence and come to their verdicts.”

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org