Caroline Flack should not have been charged with assault, former prosecutor within the Crown Prosecution Service Nazir Afzal states in a new documentary.
The late star’s mother Christine Flack is fronting a new Disney + documentary, searching for answers about her daughter’s arrest and the months leading up to her February 2020 suicide.
The film, Caroline Flack: Search for the Truth, sees Christine sit down with Afzal who at the time of the Love Island star’s arrest was one of the most vocal supporters of the CPS charges.
The Love Island star was charged with assault on her boyfriend Lewis Burton after a December 2019 incident where police found both of them injured.
Caroline was found dead at her home in North East London on February 15, 2020, one day after learning that her legal team’s attempts to have her case thrown out had failed.
Christine along with Caroline’s friends have argued that the decision to charge her was a key factor in her suicide, stating that Caroline’s fragile mental health meant she would never have been able ‘to come out the other side.’
Caroline Flack should not have been charged with assault, former prosecutor within the Crown Prosecution Service Nazir Afzal states in a new documentary
The late star’s mother Christine Flack is fronting a new Disney + documentary, searching for answers about her daughter’s arrest and the months leading up to her February 2020 suicide
The documentary explores Christine’s theory that Caroline received ‘special treatment’ and her celebrity status led police and the CPS to pursue a prosecution as they feared public scrutiny.
Nazir Afzal publicly defended the prosecution at the time, writing in the Daily Mail two days after Caroline’s death that ‘we have to have one law for everybody or there’s no law at all.’
‘The guilty must be held to account. And for the innocent, there is no better way to clear one’s name than in a court of law.’
But five years on, Afzal has admitted that after examinining the evidence for the documentary he has reached a different conclusion, stating the case against Caroline ‘makes no sense.’
‘The worst thing that should have happened is a caution,’ he tells Christine in the film, adding that Caroline’s celebrity status is the only explanation for the charge. ‘I can’t think of any reason [for the CPS] to proceed other than being scared of what would have been said about them,’ he says, as reported by The Guardian.
Afzal argues that the assualt was a one-off incident and Caroline had no previous history, whilst Lewis Burton has repeatedly stated that he didn’t want her to be charged and he regretted calling the police.
In the hours after Caroline’s arrest her twin sister Jody, who was waiting for her outside the police station, was told by an officer that the CPS ‘had thrown out’ the case.
Indeed, the initial CPS document judged that prosecuting wasn’t in the public interest. It was only when a detective inspector came on duty that the decision was made to appeal, arguing that there had been no clear admission of guilt and that ‘she has caused significant injury’.
Five years on, Nazir Afzal has admitted that after examinining the evidence for the documentary the case against Caroline ‘makes no sense’
Speaking to the Guardian, Christine says talking to Afzal for the documentary has left her with mixed emotions.
‘It’s twofold,’ she admits. ‘I hate it – because he’s saying there was no need for it to have happened. But I hope people listen to him.’
‘I’ve tried for years to speak to people in the public field. Getting their perspectives is what made the film worthwhile.’
In response, a CPS spokesperson stated: ‘A person’s celebrity status never influences whether a case is taken forward. We are satisfied that the prosecution was correctly brought.’
Caroline Flack: Search For The Truth is set to premiere on Disney + on November 10.
The show’s synopsis reads: ‘This powerful two-part Disney+ documentary follows Caroline’s mother, Christine, as she investigates the truth about her daughter’s final months – uncovering new shocking details, asking difficult questions, and exposing the misrepresentations, pressures, and failures from institutions and decision makers that shaped Caroline’s final days.
Speaking to the Guardian, Christine says talking to Afzal for the documentary has left her with mixed emotions; Caroling pictured in April 2019
‘With access to powerful testimony from Caroline’s inner circle and those who were there, the series tells the story she never got to share and reveals an unprecedented look at what really happened to Caroline Flack.’
Produced by Dov Freedman, Charlie Russell and Jessie Versluys, the documentary is being created by Curious Films, who previously released Caroline Flack: Her Life And Death in 2021.
‘I hope this programme can set the record straight. I wish I’d done it before Caroline died,’ Christine admits. ‘At the time, though, in the middle of it, we were being told to stay silent, that it would all be OK and the charges would be dropped. Caroline was telling me, “Mum, don’t say anything.”‘
Caroline Flack: Search For The Truth is set to premiere on Disney + on November 10.
