She was raped. Then she felt humiliated in court. The 17-year old later committed suicide. Now Lindsay Armstrong�s tragic story is a powerful catalyst for change

IT started with a phone call to Linda Armstrong's helpline - set up in memory of her daughter Lindsay, who committed suicide after the ordeal of giving evidence at the trial of the teenager who raped her.

The voice on the line wasn't a woman wanting to report an attack, but one of Conservative leader David Cameron's aides inquiring if he could highlight the 17-year-old's case in a major speech on rape.

Linda, 44, was delighted that one of the UK's most senior politicians wanted to speak out about the way the judicial system treated Lindsay, who died in 2002, and other rape victims.

She told the Sunday Herald: "Somebody phoned from Cameron's office asking if it was okay for him to speak about Lindsay. I agreed and appreciated what he did." Sadly, she added: "No politician from Scotland has ever done anything like that."

Cameron used Lindsay's case last Monday in a wide-ranging speech urging schools to teach young boys the meaning of "consent"; criticising the media and music industry for failing to behave responsibly in their portrayal of women; attacking the "growing sexualisation of society" and saying that just 15 out of 1000 rape victims receive justice in the UK.

Lindsay's treatment at her attacker's trial, when she felt humiliated after questioning about her underwear, showed how a victim's intimate secrets are laid bare before a court in the name of a "fair" trial which campaigners say is far from fair to the woman.

Her court ordeal left her so traumatised she died from an overdose soon after Lee Don Bell, then 14, was convicted.

Her case led to sweeping changes in the Scottish system, including the setting up of specialist court prosecutors to ensure more cases come to court. Her mother opened a 24-hour helpline, called the Lindsay Armstrong Support Group, for rape and sexual assault victims.

Legislation was also introduced to prohibit questions attacking the dignity of the victim unless the trial judge is satisfied that such questions are necessary and appropriate.

Rape Crisis Scotland and other campaigners angrily claim the system is letting down victims by not punishing offenders, and not providing enough support, which is why Linda was pleased with Cameron's speech.

Linda, from New Cumnock, Ayrshire, said Cameron highlighted how Scotland has fallen behind England and Wales on the issue, despite not referring to the country's separate judicial system. First Minister Alex Salmond has outlined a new Rape and Sexual Offences Bill, to be introduced in May, which will include a range of sexual acts which could be construed as assault and redefine "consent". A Law Commission inquiry set up in 2004 is due to recommend within weeks how the definition should be changed.

Linda said the legal changes will arrive too late for many victims, with women's campaigners and senior police admitting that so-called "soft" sentencing is why so few report attacks. "More and more young women are phoning me, but when I tell them to report incidents, they often say, it's not worth it because they the attacker will get off'. The police try, but half the cases don't get to court. It's an ordeal having to go through it again in front of people in court.

"It is definitely taking longer to get legal change in Scotland than England and Wales. It's not top of the list for politicians and that's why I'm pleased someone like Cameron spoke up. I agree with what he said about sentencing and sex education to make boys realise exactly what rape is."

According to the police, Scotland's conviction rates are little different from those south of the border at 3%-4%. But Sandy Brindley, co-ordinator of Rape Crisis Scotland, said: "The vast majority of reported cases don't actually make it to court."

Brindley praised "significant" improvements in police methods and the launch of the Rape Crisis national helpline in October, staffed by 19 workers and volunteers with £305,000 of government start-up funds. Early figures are proving it is much-needed - it has received 81 calls and, in 52 cases, allegations of rape or assault.

Brindley said many women read about the humiliating questions victims face in court, claiming that questions about whether they use sex toys, their past sexual liaisons, drinking habits and whether their partner is the father of their children are routinely asked in an attempt by the defence to "smear" the victim's reputations.

Rape Crisis claims one in eight to one in five people report rapes or sexual attacks, with only 40% of attacks in Scotland known to the police.

Brindley said: "What does the question of how many sexual partners you have do with being raped? Women are witnesses who should be treated with dignity and their human rights protected. Every accused has the right to a defence, but what's still happening is the questioning of women becomes degrading.

"It's a definite worry about what message the justice system sends out about how seriously we treat rape."

One senior police source confirmed what many officers privately believe: that women are failing to report rape because of cases such as that of Paul Handyside. He was a 20-year-old Rosyth naval cadet instructor sentenced to only 30 months' imprisonment in 2005, after the judge saw he was a first-time offender. The source said: "Every time a women, or a potential victim, sees a sentence or an outcome from the judicial system that doesn't, in her eyes represent justice, it makes that step of walking through the police office door more difficult when she becomes a victim herself. You cannot separate the outcome of justice from the confidence that victims have in reporting crimes."

Frances Monaghan, co-ordinator of the Glasgow-based Wise Women group, which provides courses in personal safety, carries out interviews with its participants. These have found just 6% have not experienced any form of male violence but more than 25% had been raped. Others were often harassed or suffered sexually derogatory comments from males as they return from bars and clubs and on public transport.

Monaghan, who also said 54% of women in the city won't leave home on their own, backed Cameron's comments on the sexualisation of women through the media. She said: "We can't dismiss the socialisation' of men that it's okay to do these things Maybe there should be a curfew on men. It's ridiculous not to expect women to not go out or always take safety precautions, but unfortunately we can't afford not to.

"When I started working in violence issues, women had a hard time with the police, but that's dramatically improved." She praised multi-agency schemes such as Archway, which has operated 24 hours, seven days a week since October, providing medical support, counselling and legal advice for rape victims at the Sandyford Initiative in Glasgow.

Monaghan added: "It's terribly frustrating for the police if they have been working on a case, keeping a victim on board, when the justice system then lets them down."

Monaghan said women are increasingly groomed or stalked in Glasgow through internet and mobile phone texting or drug rape. However, such incidents are difficult to prove and traces of date rape drugs often remove themselves from the victim's body system before forensic tests are carried out. Strathclyde Police said there has never been a proven case of date rape drugging in Scotland.

Rape Crisis' sister charity, Glasgow Rape Crisis, is planning to hold Reclaim The Night candlelit marches through the city's West End after recent rapes, including an attack on a 34-year-old woman at midnight on Friday who met a man after a night out. He took her to waste ground near the Riverboat Casino in the Broomielaw, close to the River Clyde, where she was brutally assaulted.

In October, a 14-year-old boy was charged in connection with the rape of a girl of 14 in St George's Cross and a woman, in her 40s, was raped in a Lennoxtown car park by a man who had picked her up in a car in Glasgow. In Edinburgh, a 21-year-old man was charged two weeks ago with raping a 19-year-old girl in a park.

Detective Superintendent David Leitch, head of family protection at Strathclyde Police, said his force has invested "significantly" in helping victims come forward, setting up strategies to ensure frontline officers understand the victim's needs from the moment they pick up the phone to make an allegation.

The force's procedures include a detective inspector being assigned to lead each inquiry, backed up by the family protection unit, who take part in the interview process with the victim and all aspects of supporting her. The lead officer has direct access to CID resources for the investigation.

Leitch conceded domestic abuse is far harder for many women to report, with circumstances extending beyond the "criminal or sexual element itself" into their personal lives. Many fear how they would cope if their partner found out they had reported them. He said: "One woman's experience and the ability to come through it is not the same as the next."

He said police also have a responsibility to investigate and support women who fear they may have been raped, but cannot remember, even if their claims turn out to be false, claiming the police do not operate a "blame culture" for those who withdraw complaints.

Leitch said the public knows little about these cases which are an important part of the police's reassurance role. Leitch added some women fear they have been drugged with GHB or Rohypnol, won't have the ability to recollect what happened, but have a sense of "what's happened, have I been given something?".

He added: "We are not getting readings of GHB/Rohypnol, but significant alcohol readings on tests on people's blood or urine who make complaints. The fact that somebody has got a significant amount of alcohol in their system doesn't mean they were not victims.

"But, I fear, there are rape victims who engage with the service and feel, rightly or wrongly, they will be under scrutiny for being under the influence of alcohol. The police are not in a blame culture. People regularly withdraw complaints, but those cases are about giving resolution to women's fears. What concerns us is where our tests indicate something that needs to be investigated, but the woman is unable to go to the police and subsequently withdraws her complaint."

Strathclyde Police figures reveal 45% of reported rapes are by a husband, partner or long-term acquaintance; 38% are attacked by a short-term "friend" or man who could have befriended them socially and 10% are "stranger" rapes.

The statistics also reveal increasing levels of domestic rapes, with most victims being women between 20 to 30 years old. There were 87 cases in this age group, 18 more than the number of victims aged 17 to 24. There were 61 rapists aged 17to 24.

DS Leitch added that DNA technology often can't test whether someone has consented to sex. He added: "You will be left in a position where the suspect and victim has versions of events and it's down to the credibility of evidence. That's a matter for the courts, not the police."

Tom Halpin, deputy chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police and the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland spokesman on the family protection portfolio, said conviction rates are not as important as whether women feel police believe their allegations.

He said: "I want to make it clear the victim is never responsible for being the victim. The attacker is absolutely responsible for a despicable crime that violates a woman's absolute, intimate self and damages their self-esteem. The first thing people want is to be believed." Halpin, who said he wanted to await the Law Commission's findings on the definition of consent, added: "The law must reflect what society expects to be consensual sex between people."

A Scottish Government spokesman said it is determined to tackle the low rape conviction rates. He said: "It is important, therefore that prompt action is taken to address the issues which were identified in the Scottish Law Commission's discussion paper. The detailed provisions of the bill will be finalised after ministers have received the Scottish Law Commission's final report."