RADICAL proposals to give women protection in court from their alleged sex attackers is long overdue. Now, the Home Office is urgently looking at bringing in new rules allowing rape victims to be screened off in court, or to give evidence by video link.

This would give women the same protection from intimidation as children receive in sex abuse cases. The Home Secretary is also looking at banning men in rape trials from conducting their own defence, following recent cases where victims have been cross-examined in the witness box for days by the alleged rapist.

The experience proved too much for some women who were forced to withdraw from court. A sensible legal decision would not affect the rights of the accused, but it would certainly protect the victim from this kind of court abuse.

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