Caroline Flack’s friends believe she “might still be with us” if she wasn’t charged with assault at the end of 2019.
Earlier this week, the Metropolitan Police confirmed they were re-investigating the decision to charge the late presenter, as “new witness evidence may be available.”
The former Love Island host was arrested for assault following a 5am “domestic disturbance” involving her boyfriend Lewis Burton at her home in London back in 2019.
The popular presenter tragically took her own life after she was told she would face trial for the alleged assault on February 15, 2020, at the age of 40.
Amid the re-investigation into her charge, which was requested following a complaint from Caroline’s family to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, friends have recalled how the incident left her “in pieces”.
A pal told the MailOnline: “She couldn’t compute why they had one minute said everything was going to be okay and then the next her life was in tatters.
“If that decision hadn’t changed, then Caroline might still be with us today. It utterly haunts everyone who loved Caroline. Nobody can understand it.”
Following a complaint from Caroline’s mother Christine, the Independent Office of Police Conduct urged the Met Police to reopen its investigation into the case.
The watchdog has recommended that the force’s Directorate of Professional Standards interviews an officer who was present at the time of her arrest.
It’s understood the Crown Prosecution Service recommended that the former presenter receive a caution following the incident in 2019 .
However, this was overturned after an appeal from the Met Police, and she was then charged with assault by beating.
Another friend said: “There was a disagreement between the CPS and the Met over how the case should proceed.
“Between the hours of 6am and 9am something changed and, while at the time it didn’t seem like a huge deal to the police, now it has become so.
“We all want to know what went on during that time, why the decision was reached that she would be charged and who was behind it. We want to know everything. Caroline was never the same afterwards: we owe it to her to find out the truth.”
Caroline’s mother Christine told the UK Mirror this week: “Something very unusual happened to Carrie [Caroline] at the police station that night, but no one kept a proper record explaining why.”
“I’ve now made a complaint to compel the officer to give the statement we think he should have given four years ago. As a family, we have been left with important, unanswered questions.”
Ms Flack also revealed she had requested a meeting with Sir Mark Rowley, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, but claimed: “He has refused to speak to me.”
“Now it’s time the Met gave us full disclosure,” she added.
Friends have also told how Caroline said she would “rather die” than see the police bodycam footage of herself on the night she was arrested, let alone see it played out in an open court.
They said the former Love Island host initially wanted to plead guilty to assaulting Lewis, as she “thought it would mean she could move on with her life”.
“Yes, she was distraught at what she did but, in her eyes, it was an accident. She didn’t care about losing her job on Love Island, she just wanted the whole episode to go away,” said a friend.
“In any case, she felt she had done five years of Love Island and that perhaps it was time it came to an end.”
But after consulting her legal team, Caroline pleaded not guilty at the first hearing at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on Christmas Eve 2019.
“You can’t stop thinking that if she had pleaded guilty, she could be alive today,” said the friend. “She felt so much shame at the thought of that footage coming out, it was too much to bear.
“She would say that she’d rather die than it come out publicly in court but we didn’t realise she actually meant it.”
If you have been affected by anything in this article, please visit www.pieta.ie or call 1800 247 247.
