Cleared of harrassment: millionaire who branded rape accuser a prostitute

A millionaire financier who launched an ‘aggressive’ campaign against a woman’s grieving family after she accused him of rape before committing suicide was cleared of harassment.

Alexander Economou, 36, sent David de Freitas material painting his daughter Eleanor as a prostitute and a liar following her death.

Economou allegedly ‘hijacked her name’ to create a website – eleanordefreitas.com – that contained CCTV footage of the socialite buying sex toys in Anne Summers.

At one time it carried the headline: ‘We now know ‘vulnerable’ Eleanor de Freitas was in fact a high-class escort.’

The shipping magnate’s son insisted the ‘character assassination’ was part of his ‘desperate attempts to get the truth across’ after Eleanor accused him of rape in January 2013.

Today (Thurs) Economou was cleared of one count of harassment at Westminster Magistrates’ Court as District Judge Tan Ikram noted ‘being wrongly accused of rape is no minor slight’.

He said: ‘I find that the defendant’s actions were calculated to counter the continuing incorrect assertions that the allegation of rape was true.

‘The material published was relevant to his innocence.’

He continued: ‘A grieving father was being drawn to information about his dead daughter which painted her as a call-girl and as a liar.

‘That was surely distressing, even if all true.

‘It was also embarrassing, not only in the uploading of the purchase of the sex aids bought but the fact that she had been offering her services as a masseuse in the sex industry.

‘On the other hand, David de Freitas in his campaigning in the media, was, as the prosecution themselves put it, ‘asserting that his daughter’s allegation of rape was true’.’

Economou claimed Eleanor had perverted the course of justice and spent £200,000 to prosecute her after police decided to take no further action over her rape complaint in 2013.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) took over his private prosecution a decision which Mr de Freitas believes may have contributed to his daughter’s decision to take her own life.

Eleanor, who suffered from bipolar disorder, was found dead at her parents’ Fulham home on 4 April 2014, three days before she was due to stand trial at Southwark Crown Court.

Mr de Freitas began a media campaign calling for an inquiry into the actions of the CPS, but was careful not to name Economou as he focused on the treatment of defendants with mental health difficulties.

Although Mr de Freitas never named Economou, he implied that he had raped his daughter, and the media already knew his identity.

Today (Thurs) he sat impassively with his daughters in the public gallery as Judge Ikram delivered his judgement.

‘The Crown have accepted that Mr de Freitas plainly believes that allegation of rape was true,’ he said.

The court heard Economou has spent £700,000 bringing a libel action against Mr de Freitas and a further £50,000 on ‘reputation management’.

‘The defendant is a wealthy man with considerable resources available to him,’ Judge Ikram.

‘He has certainly been aggressive in the tone of his emails, both directly to Mr de Freitas and through his solicitor, Harriet Wistrich.

‘Robust threats of financial consequences in litigation are designed to deter and cause the other party to reflect.

‘Again, I read them in context, he was a man falsely accused of a most serious crime and his name published in the national press.’

He said text messages from Economou suggested: ‘It had nothing to do with money, it was clearly about proving that Miss de Freitas had lied.’

Judge Ikram said: ‘This really has been hard for all involved and most tragic for the family of Eleanor de Freitas to whom I express my condolences.’

He added: ‘I find the defendant not guilty.

‘In making my findings, I do not in any way question David de Freitas’s right to publicly raise issues of mental illness and how the criminal justice system deals with them.’

Economou sent Mr de Freitas a letter in the middle of the night on 6 November 2014, a day before he was due to give evidence at his daughter’s inquest and do a pre-recorded interview with John Humphries for BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

The letter said the CPS had 25 minutes of CCTV footage of Economou and Eleanor in Anne Summers in December 2012, adding: ‘She was kissing, laughing and buying £340 of sex toys.’

Asked what he thought the letter’s intent was, Mr de Freitas said: ‘To shut me up, prevent me from saying anything. To intimidate me, to besmirch Eleanor’s name.

‘To hurt me and in any way that he can.’

Describing his reaction when he saw Economou’s website, he said: ‘I was just, I was stunned, I was utterly stunned that anybody that could set up a website… and use my dead daughter’s name.

‘You know, words practically fail me. You ask me to describe it and I’m doing my best, but they still, even now, they still fail me how somebody could be so inhuman.’

Economou later sent emails to Mr de Freitas’ solicitors which read: ‘Please be aware that I’m the victim of a very serious crime, any press or statements that show the opposite of the facts will be taken very seriously.’

He continued: ‘Eleanor de Freitas and I went on a date and following the date I performed some internet searches and found out she was a prostitute.

‘Between 24 December and 4 January she pleaded with me and my friends to see me again, I refused.

‘She went to the police to make a false allegation of rape for revenge purposes.’

Economou, of Alexandra Mansions, Chelsea, was found not guilty of one count of harassment without violence between November 2014 and October 2015.

His libel proceedings against Mr de Freitas are ongoing.
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