A NORTH-EAST woman is suing police after sensitive court material detailing an alleged rape was posted to the wrong address.

The Darlington woman, who cannot be named, claims the error led to her becoming the victim of a hate campaign.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the police are now in dispute over who was to blame for the documents, which detailed the alleged attack and the woman's sexual history, ending up in the wrong hands.

The mother-of-one said the material ended up being posted around her neighbourhood. Police said they had no evidence to substantiate the claim.

The woman, 38, alleged in October 1998 that she had been threatened with a knife, abused with a cane and raped on a blind date.

The defendant was found not guilty of rape at Teesside Crown Court, although he was criticised by a judge for being callous, arrogant and insensitive to women.

The woman, who has cancer, claims the documents were posted in a parade of shops and a pub before the trial in August 1999.

She said: "It was very traumatic. These were private things that I didn't want people knowing. I had lived there for 14 years but had to move house because of it.

"I became a target for youths. They killed the cat and nailed it to the back door, broke into the house several times, the windows were put out, and graffiti was written on the walls. I had a nervous breakdown."

She said her foster son was forced to move out of the area and her ten-year-old daughter needed counselling.

She has taken her fight to human rights group Liberty and Darlington MP Alan Milburn.

Mr Milburn said: "I have every sympathy for my constituent. She has had to put up with some terrible consequences as a result of a careless mistake and deserves to find out what went wrong."

A letter to the woman from Darlington police states the clerical error was the responsibility of the CPS.

But in February, Director of Public Prosecutions Sir David Calvert-Smith replied to Mr Milburn, stating the matter had been investigated and there was no evidence the CPS was responsible.

A Durham Police spokesman said: "It is not the role of the police to forward material relating to a court case to any person or any organisation other than the Crown Prosecution Service.

"We informed the complainant's solicitor in April the force was denying liability and that continues to be the case.