In November 2014, after Eleanor’s death and during David de Freitas’s media campaign, I informed him through his lawyer, Harriet Wistrich—that Eleanor’s legal team had tried to negotiate a plea deal with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) one week before her trial.
At the time, David de Freitas was publicly accusing me of rape. I was trying to defend myself and prove my innocence by showing that Eleanor had lied. Unfortunately, Ms. Wistrich responded by accusing me of lying about the plea bargain. I didn’t have the evidence to prove otherwise, at least not then.
Now, I do.
For context, Eleanor was charged with “Perverting the Course of Justice,” a serious offence—rightly so, given the circumstances. There’s a lesser charge, “Wasting Police Time,” typically used in minor cases like prank calls to the police. Those cases are usually handled in Magistrates’ Court, where the penalties are less severe.
When someone makes false accusations against a specific person, or does so repeatedly, the CPS tends to pursue the more serious charge - Perverting the Course of Justice - as they did in Eleanor’s case.
Ten years later, in May 2024, I contacted the prosecuting barrister from Eleanor’s trial with some unrelated questions about misuse of trial documents that had come to my attention. During our exchange, he confirmed that Eleanor’s solicitor had asked whether the CPS would accept a guilty plea to the lesser charge of Wasting Police Time. Here’s the email:
Click here to see the email regarding the guilty plea request.
This is important for two reasons. First, Harriet Wistrich—representing David de Freitas—has publicly denied this ever happened. Second, it raises a key question: did Eleanor’s own legal team believe her story? If they were confident in her version of events, why offer a plea to a lesser charge at all?
The prosecuting counsel also noted that the CPS rejected the offer. However, he couldn’t say for certain whether the idea came from Eleanor herself or from her solicitor.
