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On Sunday 13 October 2002 at 7.55am the BBC Radio 4 announcer introduced the actress Prunella Scales. "Emma is 19 years old," began Scales. "She has been raped by a member of staff at a centre she attends. The police believe her. The Crown Prosecution Service believes her. Everyone believes her. There's even medical evidence to confirm her story. But, incredibly, no action is taken."

Scales, who volunteered her time, was highlighting Emma's story for an appeal on behalf of the Derby-based charity Voice UK, a national support and information organisation for people with learning difficulties who have experienced crime or abuse. Emma has Down's syndrome and the criminal justice system has failed her. In the eyes (and words) of the law, Emma is a "mental defective" and thus an "incompetent witness".


First broadcast as The Week's Good Cause in January 1926, the appeal is now listened to by more than two million people in its three slots through the week.

"I was wading through possible funding streams and decided to apply to the Radio 4 appeal," says Kathryn Stone, director of Voice UK. "I thought no more about it until I got a phone call from a member of the Appeals Advisory Committee. All the BBC staff we've worked with have been helpful, supportive and genuinely interested in what we do."

The 11 committee members - all volunteers - meet three times a year, each time allocating 18 radio appeal slots and four television Lifeline appeals. They allocate half as many slots as there are applications, says BBC appeals secretary Poppy Hughes, which seems surprisingly few. But the stumbling block is that, as with the BBC, the charities involved should have national UK coverage.

"It was an opportunity to fund-raise," says Stone, "but more importantly we were given, in a sense, a seal of approval. The BBC is saying, 'This organisation is valid and worth giving money to'. It also certainly raised our profile." Hughes emphasises this point: "Yes, it's about raising money but it's also about raising awareness."

Since the appeal, the office phones have been busy, says Stone. "We've had calls from parents whose children have been abused and who hadn't known where to go. We took one call from a barrister who was prosecuting in a case for a young woman with learning disabilities. He feared that the defence would argue that she was an 'incompetent witness'. We provided information, statistics, advice and research evidence, which he used. When we heard that the judge had ruled the woman's evidence admissible and recognised her as a competent witness, it was just an incredible feeling."


Voice UK received hundreds of anonymous donations. "One that really moved me," says Stone, "was a £1 coin taped to a postcard inside an envelope. So I put a pound into the funds and put that postcard - with its taped coin - on our noticeboard as a reminder that many people believe in what we do, but also as a real motivator that we have to spend every penny wisely."

The appeal raised nearly £8,000, although Voice UK was charged £562 for the telephone donation-taking service. "I optimistically hoped for £5,000," says Stone, "because I realise we're not as popular as kittens or donkeys. And we provide a service that most people would really rather not think about. So £8,000 was remarkable."

She says it is difficult to judge what a particular charity might make in the Radio 4 broadcast, although the average sum raised by each appeal over the past year has been £10,400.

Choosing the right person to make an appeal is crucial. The idea to contact Scales came from Labour MP Fiona Mactaggart, chairperson of Voice UK's all-party parliamentary group.

"We had letters from listeners saying that they were moved by what they heard," says Stone. "The combination of the script and Prunella bringing it so movingly to life was just brilliant."

- Charities wishing to feature on the Radio 4 appeal should telephone the BBC Appeals Unit on 020 7765 0769