Teacher who died in prison is cleared posthumously of rape
By Ian RosserEducation Reporter
A WEST Yorkshire teacher who died in prison after being convicted of raping one his pupils has been cleared posthumously.
Timothy Gee was jailed for eight years when he was convicted at Leeds Crown Court in 2001. He fell ill and died from an undiagnosed blood cancer the following year.
Always maintaining his innocence, Mr Gee launched two unsuccessful appeals before his death. He has now been cleared by the Court of Appeal.
Campaigners have described the case as one of the worst miscarriages of justice they have seen.Gail Saunders, of the campaign group Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers, said: "It is an appalling example of the extraordinary difficulties faced by individuals who are accused of abuse many years after the alleged offence."Mr Gee's 88-year-old mother Molly has been awarded more than £62,000 costs by the court after battling to clear her son's name. As part of that bid, she contacted the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which asked a leading psychiatrist to report on the girl – now aged 26 – who had accused Mr Gee of rape.
While the study cast doubt on the girl's mental state, it emerged that she had also made similar accusations against another man, whose conviction was quashed earlier this year.Mrs Gee said: "It all boiled down to one girl's word against his, and the jury believed her. That's all it took to send my son to prison and it has left me very angry and grief stricken. I don't think anyone should have to work alone with a child – it's just too easy for an allegation like this to be made."Mr Gee, from Lindley, Huddersfield, taught brass instruments for 25 years in Kirklees and Calderdale before he was accused of raping and indecently assaulting a pupil in a Huddersfield school in 1989.He died aged 55 in August 2002, a month after his second appeal failed.Overturning Mr Gee's conviction, Lady Justice Smith said that experts now believed the girl's statements to be "unreliable."

Tragic that a man died in a cold sterile prison for crime he did not commit. Now in the US some students at Duke University are facing some very serious charges and the evidence at this point looks razor thin at best. Justice of course must be served but what is most important is that the justice is doled out fairly and honestly and in accordance with the law. Even then "misteaks" can and will happen. The DUKE case is a prime example of a DA pandering to the local community at election time, most likely at the expense of some young men's reputations. A blight that even if the charges are dropped or at trail they are found NOT GUILTY will follow them for the rest of their lives. The stigma of being called one of the lowest forms of a human being is not something you will ever recover from no matter what you do. Being accused of RAPE in itself is a prison sentence.

Now if these men are guilty the DEATH PENALTY should be applied. If they are cleared of these charges what should be done to the women who made the allegation? Should she walk free? Nothing short of JAIL for the person who knowingly FALSELY accuses someone of a CRIME, will do to rectify the injustice done to some wrongly accused of one of the most heinous crimes known to man.

Justice must be served. On both sides of the fence.