A mother-of-one was today jailed for two years for falsely claiming she was raped by a man she met on a dating website.
Jennifer Day, 34, denied making the false allegation against her former boyfriend, Andrew Saxby, after they had a row.
Mr Saxby was arrested in front of his colleagues, held by police for nearly ten hours, and subjected to 'degrading and upsetting' intimate examinations, Basildon Crown Court heard.
Jailed for two years: Jennifer Day falsely accused her ex-boyfriend of raping her
Sentencing Day, Judge Ian Graham said the case had wasted £4,000 of taxpayers' money and 'had wider implications for those women who have genuinely been raped'.
"The police have put great stores on providing sympathetic treatments of women who make genuine complaints of rape and you abused that," he said. "You have undermined and jeopardised the efforts that are being made about the need to treat genuine victims of rape properly, fairly and sympathetically.
"The offence is in itself a serious one, it has terrible consequences potentially and actually for the victim and wider implications for those women who have genuinely been raped."
He added that the investigation had wasted 270 police man hours.
Day, from Corringham, Essex, formerly worked as a nurse and a medical representative.
She split up with the father of her four-year-old daughter back in April 2007 after she discovered he had an affair with their lodger, the court heard.
Afterwards she began drinking heavily to cope with the rejection and using dating websites.
In September 2007 she met Andrew Saxby, employed by Ford Motors, through the website Dating Direct and they began a relationship.
The court heard how she was also seeing another man at the same time from a dating website.
On January 7 last year (2008) the relationship was waning and the couple rowed after Mr Saxby accused her of having another man at her home when he called.
Afterwards, Day dialled 999 and accused Mr Saxby of raping her. He was arrested at work and taken to the police station.
Judge Graham said: "It was an extraordinary performance which involved deliberate untruths as the jury found. "Mr Saxby was arrested at his place of work, held in custody and he was interviewed as a suspect for the horrible offene of rape. "It was not until the next day that you admitted the allegation was untrue. "That only came when confronted by police officers with further information that they obtained that you were a person of low credibility."
The court heard that Day dropped the allegation after 36 hours and Mr Saxby was released without charge but she still maintained it was true.
She was found guilty of one count of perverting the course of justice during a trial at Basildon Crown Court in August of that year (2008).
Rebecca Lee, mitigating for Day, said that she had recently started a new job as a medical representative but was set to lose the position if sent to jail.
She said she had been under a lot of strain following the break-up of her relationship with her daughter's dad and began 'drinking to excess'. She said: "She got involved with dating websites and going out when her daughter was staying with her former partner, going out to pubs and engaging in what she would call risky behaviour and behaving totally out of character."
In his witness statement, victim Mr Saxby said he was not concerned about punishment, adding: "I feel she must have some kind of problem. I don't necessarily want her to go to prison but an apology would be nice."
Ms Lee said Day 'apologised unreservedly' for the allegation.
But the judge rejected calls to suspend the sentence, saying: "Mr Saxby is a completely respectable man who had formed a relationship with you and had shown considerable affection and kindness of the kind you said you craved. "He had been generous towards you and your daughter, taken you to meet his parents and even in the last difficult days he had told you he loved you. "His reward was to be the subject of this completely false complaint."
Day, who was wearing a smart pin-striped trouser suit and turqoise top, burst into tears as she was taken down to the cells.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1201224/Former-nurse-jailed-crying-rape-internet-boyfriend.html#ixzz0LvHOn0PW
Jennifer Day, 34, denied making the false allegation against her former boyfriend, Andrew Saxby, after they had a row.
Mr Saxby was arrested in front of his colleagues, held by police for nearly ten hours, and subjected to 'degrading and upsetting' intimate examinations, Basildon Crown Court heard.
Jailed for two years: Jennifer Day falsely accused her ex-boyfriend of raping her
Sentencing Day, Judge Ian Graham said the case had wasted £4,000 of taxpayers' money and 'had wider implications for those women who have genuinely been raped'.
"The police have put great stores on providing sympathetic treatments of women who make genuine complaints of rape and you abused that," he said. "You have undermined and jeopardised the efforts that are being made about the need to treat genuine victims of rape properly, fairly and sympathetically.
"The offence is in itself a serious one, it has terrible consequences potentially and actually for the victim and wider implications for those women who have genuinely been raped."
He added that the investigation had wasted 270 police man hours.
Day, from Corringham, Essex, formerly worked as a nurse and a medical representative.
She split up with the father of her four-year-old daughter back in April 2007 after she discovered he had an affair with their lodger, the court heard.
Afterwards she began drinking heavily to cope with the rejection and using dating websites.
In September 2007 she met Andrew Saxby, employed by Ford Motors, through the website Dating Direct and they began a relationship.
The court heard how she was also seeing another man at the same time from a dating website.
On January 7 last year (2008) the relationship was waning and the couple rowed after Mr Saxby accused her of having another man at her home when he called.
Afterwards, Day dialled 999 and accused Mr Saxby of raping her. He was arrested at work and taken to the police station.
Judge Graham said: "It was an extraordinary performance which involved deliberate untruths as the jury found. "Mr Saxby was arrested at his place of work, held in custody and he was interviewed as a suspect for the horrible offene of rape. "It was not until the next day that you admitted the allegation was untrue. "That only came when confronted by police officers with further information that they obtained that you were a person of low credibility."
The court heard that Day dropped the allegation after 36 hours and Mr Saxby was released without charge but she still maintained it was true.
She was found guilty of one count of perverting the course of justice during a trial at Basildon Crown Court in August of that year (2008).
Rebecca Lee, mitigating for Day, said that she had recently started a new job as a medical representative but was set to lose the position if sent to jail.
She said she had been under a lot of strain following the break-up of her relationship with her daughter's dad and began 'drinking to excess'. She said: "She got involved with dating websites and going out when her daughter was staying with her former partner, going out to pubs and engaging in what she would call risky behaviour and behaving totally out of character."
In his witness statement, victim Mr Saxby said he was not concerned about punishment, adding: "I feel she must have some kind of problem. I don't necessarily want her to go to prison but an apology would be nice."
Ms Lee said Day 'apologised unreservedly' for the allegation.
But the judge rejected calls to suspend the sentence, saying: "Mr Saxby is a completely respectable man who had formed a relationship with you and had shown considerable affection and kindness of the kind you said you craved. "He had been generous towards you and your daughter, taken you to meet his parents and even in the last difficult days he had told you he loved you. "His reward was to be the subject of this completely false complaint."
Day, who was wearing a smart pin-striped trouser suit and turqoise top, burst into tears as she was taken down to the cells.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1201224/Former-nurse-jailed-crying-rape-internet-boyfriend.html#ixzz0LvHOn0PW
Comment