Caroline Flack's mother Chris has launched a fierce attack on the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after their former chief said that he had "no choice" but the prosecute the late TV star.
The former Love Island host took her own life in February while awaiting trial for a December incident that saw her accused of assaulting boyfriend Lewis Burton.
Burton insisted that what transpired between the pair was an accident but the CPS decided to go ahead with a prosecution anyway and she was ordered to have no contact with her boyfriend at all before the trial, including via social media.
Ed Beltrami, head of the CPS at the time, gave an interview to a Sunday newspaper over the weekend in which he said: "The facts of this case were the guy had made his complaint, he had phoned the police, he was terrified he was going to be killed, he's been hit over the head with a weapon, namely a lamp, he's got a cut to his head, and she's made an admission to the police at the scene.
"Supposing we had made a decision not to proceed, which we could have done, and she goes back to live with the boyfriend and she loses her temper again on another occasion, hits him a bit harder with a lamp or with something else, and he dies. How would that look then?"
In a lengthy response via the Eastern Daily Press, Flack's mother Chris said: "It is deeply regrettable that Mr Beltrami could not have let my beautiful daughter rest in peace. It is as regrettable that he should choose to repeat some of the untruths about my daughter. My daughter was unable to defend herself during her life and is unable to do so now. Shame on you.
"Mr Beltrami says that the CPS 'had no idea' that my daughter may take her life when they decided to continue the case against her. If that is true then the CPS ignored the correspondence from my daughter's solicitors and a psychologist's report warning of just that possibility. The CPS were fully aware of these matters and the risk when they decided to continue the prosecution.
"Mr Beltrami also repeats the false allegation that Caroline hit Mr Burton over the head with a lamp. He does not mention that this was denied by Caroline, denied by Mr Burton in a statement he provided and that this claim was completely inconsistent with the injury that Mr Burton sustained. The repetition of this lie without any attempt to balance it mirrors what the CPS did to Caroline on December 23, 2019.
"The suggestion that my daughter admitted doing so is also false. She admitted that she accidentally made contact with Lewis while she had her phone in her hand while emotionally distressed. My daughter confessed to an accident – not as is suggested - to an assault."
Chris went on to reveal that the blood at the scene was actually her daughter's - and not her boyfriend's - as she had made an attempt on her life that night.
"They referred to the 'crime scene' as looking like a 'horror film' – when they knew that the blood at the scene was Caroline's and that she could not publicly say that because of the circumstances that led to that injury. You can only imagine Caroline's anguish at the perception she had caused someone else an injury that led to so much blood and not being able to say it was hers for fear that it would be obvious that she had made an attempt on her own life – and she would lose her career.
"The subsequent publication of a photograph showing her bedroom covered with HER blood (though suggested to be Mr Burton's) was enabled because of the CPS approach and the failure to make clear it was not Mr Burton's blood. Caroline was so embarrassed and appalled by that photograph – and the person who provided it to the press should be so ashamed of themselves.
"By putting this information into the public domain the CPS created the environment where Caroline was hounded on social media and the press were able to publish misleading claims about her and the incident. The CPS released the demons that chased down Caroline."
Following Flack's death, the CPS has launched a review into its handling of the case.
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