In a tearful courtroom confession, a daughter has admitted using the best-selling sadomasochistic sex novel Fifty Shades of Grey as the basis for a series of false rape claims against her father. 
 
 Defence barrister Cathy McCulloch had, she said, never read the novel until she was called in late to defend the father, who was accused of eight incestuous rapes over a six-year period. 
 
 In her blog about the case, Ms McCulloch said the prospects for the father initially looked bleak. 
 
 “His daughter had given a compelling interview to the police and my client had absolutely no real defence other than ‘I did not do it’,” she wrote. 
 
 The only unusual thing about the interview was that in describing what her father had supposedly done and how her body had allegedly felt, she had used “certain words, phrases and descriptions which seemed beyond her years.” 
 
 Nothing might have come of this quirk, however, were it not for the fact that during Ms McCulloch’s otherwise routine first meeting with the father – on the day of the trial – he happened to mention that his daughter’s favourite book was “about a millionaire who takes a young woman under his wing and ‘teaches her about art’.” 
 
 Fifty Shades of Grey film stills 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 1/23 Fifty Shades of Grey film stills Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan as Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey during a Fifty Shades sex scene Chuck Zlotnick 
 
 2/23 Fifty Shades of Grey film stills Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan kiss in a lift as Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey's love affair takes off Chuck Zlotnick 
 
 3/23 Fifty Shades of Grey film stills Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey outside Grey Enterprises in Fifty Shades of Grey Chuck Zlotnick 
 
 4/23 Fifty Shades of Grey film stills Anastasia Steele with Christian Grey in his offices in Fifty Shades of Grey Chuck Zlotnick 
 
 5/23 Fifty Shades of Grey film stills Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele in her hardware shop 
 
 6/23 Fifty Shades of Grey film stills Fifty Shades of Grey has just under 20 minutes of sex scenes Chuck Zlotnick 
 
 7/23 Fifty Shades of Grey film stills Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) with her mother Carla (Jennifer Ehle) in Fifty Shades of Grey Chuck Zlotnick 
 
 8/23 Fifty Shades of Grey film stills Sam Taylor-Johnson, Jamie Dornan and Dakota discuss the filming of Fifty Shades of Grey on set Universal 
 
 9/23 Fifty Shades of Grey film stills Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden stars as Dr Grace Trevelyan Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey Chuck Zlotnick 
 
 10/23 Fifty Shades of Grey film stills Anastasia Steele's best friend Kate, played by Eloise Mumford, in Fifty Shades of Grey Chuck Zlotnick 
 
 11/23 Fifty Shades of Grey film stills Dakota Johnson lets out a brief moan in Christian Grey's bed Universal 
 
 12/23 Fifty Shades of Grey film stills Christian cradles Ana Universal 
 
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 14/23 Fifty Shades of Grey film stills Ana Steele and Christian Grey have an 'interesting' relationship 
 
 15/23 Fifty Shades of Grey film stills Mr Grey will see you now: Christian Grey introduces Anastasia Steele into the world of S&M Universal 
 
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 17/23 Fifty Shades of Grey film stills Jamie Dornan stars as protagonist Christian Grey Universal 
 
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 22/23 Fifty Shades of Grey film stills Jamie Dornan as playboy billionaire Christian Grey 
 
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 “He had no idea what Fifty Shades of Grey was about,” added Ms McCulloch. “Neither I nor my instructing solicitor’s representative had read the book (honest!).” 
 
 The solicitor’s representative bought the book, which has sold more than 125 million copies worldwide and been turned into a film, and found “too many striking similarities between the [daughter’s police interview] and the book to be a coincidence.” 
 
 Ms McCulloch, a former police officer who is now a barrister at Church Court Chambers, persuaded the judge to adjourn the case so she could spend an afternoon and an evening reading the novel. 
 
 Within seven minutes of her beginning her cross-examination, the daughter burst into tears in the witness box and admitted she had made the whole thing up to teach her strict father a lesson. 
 
 Does Fifty Shades Of Grey normalise domestic abuse? 
 
 Describing a cross-examination she had expected to last between two and three hours, Ms McCulloch wrote: “I started gently to put the complainant at ease. She agreed her father was strict, and that she was really annoyed with him for “ruining her life”. 
 
 “I then went straight to my final question – that she was so angry with her father that she had made this all up. She wavered. 
 
 “I raised the striking similarities between her interview and the book. She suddenly broke and said I was absolutely right. She had made the whole thing up because she was angry with her father and wanted to teach him a lesson. 
 
 “I asked her whether she had got all the ideas from Fifty Shades of Grey. She confirmed this book, and others – which she named. After seven minutes we were finished. 
 
 “The Judge directed the jury to acquit, stating that this case is “unique” in the whole of his career at the Bar and Judiciary.” ||||| It is unusual for a Barrister to write in the terms which follow, but what follows was exceptional, and the result of very close teamwork between Barrister and Instructing Solicitors (JD Solicitors of Willenhall). Cathy McCulloch, instructed through her door tenancy at Church Court Chambers, explains: 
 
 Last week my client was dramatically found Not Guilty of 8 counts of incestuous rape over a six year period. His daughter had given a compelling interview to the police and my client had absolutely no real defence other than “I did not do it”. 
 
 I was brought in very late: 2 days before the ground rules hearing, a week before trial. The week before trial I spent hours poring over the papers and drafting three separate major legal arguments. The complainant’s interview was going to be really tough to crack. She had described not only what her father had allegedly done, but how her body felt as a result. The only odd thing was the use of certain words, phrases and descriptions of how she felt which seemed beyond her years. 
 
 My first conference with the client was on the day of trial. Most of what my client described in response to my questions was unremarkable – apart from her favourite book – about a millionaire who takes a young woman under his wing and “teaches her about art”. He had no idea what Fifty Shades of Grey was about. 
 
 Neither I nor my instructing solicitor’s representative had read the book (honest!). She bought a copy, and overnight found “too many striking similarities between the ABE [police interview of the complainant] and the book to be a coincidence”. 
 
 On Day 2 the Judge adjourned at lunchtime so I could spend the afternoon and evening in detailed analysis of the similarities prior to my cross-examination of the complainant. I prepared 2–3 hour cross-examination plan, followed by an addendum to our Defence Case Statement. 
 
 On the morning of Day 3, I started my cross-examination gently to put the complainant at ease. She agreed her father was strict, and that she was really annoyed with him for “ruining her life”. I then went straight to my final question – that she was so angry with her father that she had made this all up. She wavered. I raised the striking similarities between her interview and the book. She suddenly broke and said I was absolutely right. She had made the whole thing up because she was angry with her father and wanted to teach him a lesson. I asked her whether she had got all the ideas from 50 Shades of Grey. She confirmed this book, and others – which she named. After seven minutes we were finished. 
 
 The Prosecutor re-examined on each point. She was adamant that none of the allegations were true. The jury were given a break, the prosecutor took instructions and no evidence was then offered. The Judge directed the jury to acquit, stating that this case is “unique” in the whole of his career at the Bar and Judiciary. 
 
 Many thanks to JD Solicitors (Nikyle Bains) and to Church Court Chambers for briefing me in this matter. 
 
 For a more technical (and much shorter) version, see here.
– Cathy McCulloch writes that as of last week, she hadn't read Fifty Shades of Grey ("honest!"). The barrister is intimately familiar with portions of it now, however, due to a case that she describes as "exceptional" in a blog post spotted by the Independent. Her client was a father charged with eight counts of incestuous rape that allegedly occurred over a six-year period; he "had absolutely no real defense other than 'I did not do it.'" His daughter, on the other hand, had given a "compelling interview" to police, explaining in detail what had allegedly occurred. There was just one thing that nagged at McCulloch: "the use of certain words, phrases, and descriptions of how she felt which seemed beyond her years." Then her client mentioned his daughter's favorite book (which he was unfamiliar with): Fifty Shades of Grey. An instructing solicitor on the case who also had not previously read it picked up a copy and uncovered "too many striking similarities" between the girl's statement and the novel. In all, the team discovered 17 examples that "appeared to have been lifted from the book," per a more technical description of the case. McCulloch analyzed the passages and the girl's interview as part of her cross-examination preparations. On the trial's third day, the girl took the stand, and McCulloch began "gently." Just seven minutes later—during which McCulloch brought up those striking similarities—"we were finished." The girl admitted she had made up the allegations to teach her "strict" father a lesson. The prosecutor re-examined the girl and she confirmed that it had all been a lie. An immediate acquittal followed. (This Fifty Shades "re-enactment" landed a student in jail.)