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Helen Mirren sparks rape victim fury

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Marie Claire News: Helen Mirren

Dame Helen Mirren has hit the headlines again for her controversial comments saying female jurors tend to believe that rape victims were 'asking for it'.

The Oscar-winning actress has claimed that in rape cases the defence barristers will deliberately choose as many female jurors as possible, believing that 'women go against women' because of sexual jealousy.

A leading rape expert has backed Mirren's comments, blaming it on a 'defence mechanism' in women.

The 63-year-old made the divisive remarks in a Sunday Times interview to promote her latest movie, Inkheart, in which she discussed competition between women.

Mirren said: 'In a rape case the courts - in defence of a man - would select as many women as they could for the jury, because women go against women.

'Whether in a deep-seated animalistic way, going back billions of years, or from a sense of tribal jealousy or just antagonism, I don't know.

She added: 'But other women on a rape case would say she was asking for it. The only reason I can think of is that they're sexually jealous.'

The observations follow Mirren's admission earlier this year that she was a victim of date-rape on at least once occasion, but never reported her attacks to the police.

Although the Solicitor General has accused the actress of making ignorant, absurd and dangerous comments, Sandra McNeill of the Campaign to End Rape said it was a 'well-known fact' that lawyers who represented rapists tried to get a female-dominated jury.

Ms McNeill stated it was a 'defence mechanism' from women to think: 'If I don't do something wrong (it won't happen to me), maybe she's to blame.'

She added: 'I think from the start of the police investigation right through to the jury, it's all trying to find a way to discredit the woman.

'If you can find something, anything, then the rapist goes free.'