Father hits out at CPS after daughter's suicide death

The father of a vulnerable woman who committed suicide days before she was due to stand trial over an accusation she made a false rape claim has told ITV News it was "wrong on so many levels" that she was prosecuted.

David de Freitas and his family are fighting for a special inquest, with a jury, to decide whether prosecuting his daughter Eleanor drove her to her death.

Mr De Freitas spoke to ITV News Reporter Rebecca Barry:

The 23-year-old, who struggled with mental illness and bipolar disorder, took her own life in April, three days before she was due in court.

Her original reporting of an alleged rape in January 2013 was dropped a month later due to lack of evidence.

But by the end of the year the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed it would pursue a case that she made a false rape claim after the man she accused launched his own private prosecution.

"It it wasn't for the CPS continuing with that prosecution I would still have a daughter today," Mr De Freitas told ITV News. "It was just wrong on so many levels."

An initial inquest into the death of Ms de Freitas was adjourned today, a day after the Director of public prosecutions Alison Saunders announced she was personally investigating the case, describing it as "one of the most difficult I have seen".

Ms Saunders said she was "very saddened" by the death and had asked those who worked on the case for a "full explanation".

She is due to inform the senior coroner at West London Coroner's Court of her remit by Monday and has requested a meeting with Eleanor's family to "discuss the case and the law surrounding it".

Mr De Freitas has called for a full Article 2 inquest where all the matters surrounding the death are brought out into the open and "examined so that there are lessons learned".

He welcomed the adjournment and said it was vital a ruling was made to assure those reporting allegations of rape they would not end up being the subject of a prosecution.

"It is too little too late but we do have the opportunity to make sure that no other family has to go through what we went through," he said.