Woman
jailed for false rape claim
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/6113490.stm
BBC
- 3rd November 2006
A woman
has been jailed for making false rape allegations against her former
husband.
Sally Henderson, 40, from Woodmancote, near Cirencester, was jailed
for a year for claiming she had been the subject of a series of
sex attacks.
The mature
student was found guilty of perverting the course of justice following
a week-long trial at Gloucester Crown Court in September.
She lied
about her lorry driver husband raping her during their brief marriage.
Henderson
was married to Richard Cooke, 39, in 2004. He was held for 36 hours
in a police cell following his arrest.
Five years
earlier, she had made similar claims against her then live-in lover
Mark Rowe, from Launceston, Cornwall.
Passing
sentence at Bristol Crown Court, Recorder David Lane QC said: "You
told a series of wicked lies against both men and in particular
Mr Cooke.
"The
jury may have formed the view, as I did, that you are a skilful
actress who is adept at making people believe that you are a victim
when you are nothing of the sort."
Henderson,
who represented herself in court on Friday after sacking her legal
team, said: "I've told the truth, I've not made up any allegations."
Her anonymity
was protected by an order under the Sexual Offences (Amendment)
Act 1992 because her complaint was of a sexual nature.
But Judge
Lane lifted the restriction after the jury's verdict because he
said the offence with which she had been charged - perverting the
course of justice - was not sexual.
The judge
added: "You framed an innocent man, you accused him of the
most serious offence to be brought against a man in the criminal
calendar.
"The
case against your husband was rot and the spotlight was turned against
you."
During the
trial, Henderson claimed her ex-husband had viewed her as a sex
object, had demanded sex constantly and had raped her at a wedding
reception.
But the
jury was told that the allegations were almost identical to previous
claims made by Henderson against another former boyfriend Mr Rowe,
42.
'Sexual
appetite'
Both men
were questioned by police but neither was charged with any offence.
Mr Cooke
had told the court that he had never attacked his ex-wife.
He said
he had suffered serious injuries in a crash shortly after his marriage
to Henderson which had left him unable to perform sexually.
"Because
of the problems I was having, I was unable to fulfil my wife. She
had a very healthy sexual appetite," he said.
Mr Rowe
told the court that he met Henderson in 1999 but broke off the relationship
after she tried to pressurise him into marriage.
He denied
ever raping her, saying she was in control of their sexual relationship.
Peer
names 'serial liar' whose rape claims sent an innocent man to jail
20th October 2006
