Tearful witness locked up for fleeing rape trial is found dead

Published on Thursday 11 June 2009 22:03

A WOMAN who was thrown into police cells after she fled the witness stand in tears during a rape trial has died.

Anne Robertson broke down when she was giving evidence against her uncle, who she claimed had raped her, at the High Court in Edinburgh earlier this year.

The sheriff's decision to hold her overnight in a police station was met with widespread anger. Her complaint to Scotland's most senior judge, Lord Hamilton, was upheld and the decision branded "disproportionate" and traumatic for Ms Robertson, who was originally from Grangemouth. She waived her right to anonymity to highlight her treatment.

Now it has been revealed the 43-year-old, who lived alone, was found dead in her home in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, on Sunday, 31 May. A police spokeswoman could not confirm the cause of death, but said she had died from "natural causes" and the death was "non-suspicious".

Her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Robertson, who is married to Anne's eldest brother, Alex, said: "The family has been told by the pathologist that there are no suspicious circumstances, but he can't say exactly how she died.

"Anne did take epileptic fits, and he hasn't ruled out that she had a fit, but there needs to be more investigation."

She added that Ms Robertson, who worked in a supermarket in Dewsbury, spoke to her twin sister, Alison, shortly after 5pm on Thursday, 28 May, and sent her last e-mail at 8:25pm the same evening.

"Everyone's devastated and shocked. Anne was under a lot of pressure following the trial," her sister-in-law said.

Her funeral was held yesterday at Falkirk Crematorium.

One of a family of seven, she was a Crown witness during the trial of her uncle, George Cummings, in January.

Although the charge of raping her when she was 12 was eventually dropped, Cummings, 69, was convicted of abusing two young sisters on various occasions between 1970 and 1979 in his Grangemouth home. He was jailed for three and a half years.

Ms Robertson broke down in the witness box during questioning and at one stage fled the courtroom but managed to regain her composure and returned to continue her evidence.

But, as she was cross-examined by Cummings's defence counsel, she became more distressed and again attempted to flee. Temporary judge Sheriff Roger Craik, QC, then ordered her to be taken to the cells and held until the following day.

Although Ms Robertson's complaint to the Lord Justice General was upheld, no action was taken against the sheriff.

In a report, Lord Hamilton acknowledged there was a risk the witness would not return to give evidence. But he said a stern warning to return the next day would have been appropriate.