Alcohol use may cut rape payouts

Rape victims have been told their compensation may be cut if they had been drinking alcohol prior to their attack. In the past year at least 14 victims seeking compensation were told they would get less money because of alchol, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) has confirmed. One woman, who believes she was raped after her drink was spiked, was told that she would receive only £8,250 - 25 per cent less than the full standard award of £11,000 - because of a clause that says consumption of alcohol may have "contributed to the circumstances that gave rise to the injury".

The woman was only awarded the full sum after her solicitor argued the practice amounted to indirect sexual discrimination. She told the Guardian: "When I read the CICA letter I just had no words; I could not take it in. It felt like I was being punished for having the audacity to step up and say 'I don't think this should have happened to me.'

"It was like going back to the Seventies, saying 'she was asking for it'. How else could you read the letter but as saying it's my fault I was raped?"