In recent years, there has been rising concern that allegations of sexual abuse, particularly non‐recent abuse, have not received an appropriate response. From this has emerged a new determination to correct past and prevent further injustices, with police operations focusing considerable resources on the identification and prosecution of child abusers. Police and other services have reached out to encourage reporting, and developments in the trial process related to the rules of evidence have eroded due process protections for suspects. This article considers this changed legal and social context, and the processes entailed in responding to allegations of abuse, before presenting original empirical data, gathered from the accounts of 30 men and women who were wrongly accused of abuse related to their employment in occupations of trust. It demonstrates the considerable and lasting harms done to those who face allegations of such heinous crimes.

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The present article reports the findings from a study of ex-prisoners convicted for sexual offences but maintaining innocence (‘CMIs’). The research was focused on the impact of being wrongly accused of sexual abuse, for the convicted persons and their relatives. While the researchers obviously cannot vouch for their innocence, they refer to policy and legal developments in the UK, and in other countries, that might have increased the possibility of wrongful convictions for alleged sexual offences, particularly in the case of alleged historical (non-recent) cases. The dire experiences reported by participants, and the justifications for researching unexonerated former prisoners maintaining innocence, are discussed.