Co Down woman admits creating “fabricated and malicious accusations” about sex assault

Judge tells defendant she deserves to go to jail

A Co Down woman who admitted creating “fabricated and malicious accusations” about being sexually assaulted during a fictitious burglary, was spared a jail sentence today (Fri).

Judge Geoffrey Miller KC told Elizabeth Bates that while she “richly deserved” to go to prison, there was clear guidance and authority that judges have to take account of the consequences on other parties when imposing a custodial sentence.

In the case of 27-year-old Bates, she is the primary carer for three young children, at least one of whom has medical needs, and there was evidence before him that Bates’ incarceration “would have a significant detrimental impact on her children.”

Ordering Bates to stand up in the dock, the Downpatrick Crown Court judge told her he could find little evidence “of genuine remorse or regret” on her part but that with the probation board recommending an Enhanced Combination Order (ECO), “I shall accede to that recommendation.”

“I make it clear that I do so, not out of any sympathy for you Bates who, all matters being equal richly deserve to be going to prison today,” declared Judge Miller, ordering the self-confessed liar to complete 75 hours of community service and two years on probation.

At an earlier hearing Bates, from Lysander Park in Newtownards, entered guilty pleas to three charges of perverting the course of justice on 24, 26 and 30 August 2022.

The details of the charges disclose how Bates made two statements containing false allegations and one that she made “false statements to police alleging sexual assault.”

Opening the facts of the case for the first time today (Fri), Judge Miller told the court how Bates first contacted the police to report she had received a series of sinister emails from a former partner and having given the police the address, she recorded a formal statement.

Copies of the emails were printed off and reading from them, the judge described how the writer told Bates: “my girl’s p**** is nothing like yours; I have told her that; I would love to see it one more time; you secretly love it; probably beg me to f*** you if I was there.”

Bates, the court heard, sent screenshots to the police and then, on 26 August, “she made a further statement containing more allegations.”

According to Bates, her son had been at the back door and told her “there was a bad man there.”

A short time after receiving a further message from a mail address purportedly attributable to her former partner, Bates claimed she was in the kitchen when two men, one of them wearing a balaclava and the other using a scarf to cover his face, burst in.

She claimed they had assaulted her and “sexually assaulting her by ripping off her top.”

Four days later, on 30 August, she again claimed her child told her “there was a bad man” in the back garden and that after she assured the child there was no one there “she received a snapchat message showing the back of her house.”

As a result of her claims, Bates’ former partner was arrested, his home searched and officers seized his phone, computer and other electronic devices as they conducted their investigation.

He was on police bail until detectives uncovered the fact that the internet provider address used to send the emails, came from Bates’ own IP address.

That evidence was put to her but Bates “couldn’t explain why they had been sent from her broadband address and she denied making false reports”.

Officers seized her phone and when out was examined, detectives ascertained it had been used to create the email accounts and addresses.

The court heard that when Bates was further interviewed in August 2023, “she admitted sending herself the mails and snapchat messages”.

Judge Miller told the court that from reading the Victim Impact Statement (VIS), it was clear that her lies and deceit had “greatly affected” the victim’s life and job.

The judge outlined how the entirely innocent man had been subject to police bail conditions for ten months, had phones and computers seized, had to tell his employer what he was being investigated for, leading him to fear for his job and livelihood.

Despite Bates admissions that she had concocted the whole thing and had told repeated lies, Judge Miller told the court “I find very little to support a conclusion that there is any genuine remorse or regret for her actions”.

“Perverting the course of public justice is a very serious offence for reasons that are all too obvious,” said the judge, “public trust in the fair administration of justice, from the investigation to the conclusion of a trial, is a fundamental requirement in any democratic and free society”.

Having told her initial lies Bates, said Judge Miller, “persisted in those accusations and then concocted even more strands to her deceitful web”.

As well as the impact on the innocent victim, Bates had also wasted police time and resources as they investigated her malicious fairytale.

Defence KC Richard McConkey conceded that “it’s a difficult and serious case,” but he contended that given the background and Bates’ personal situation, “the public interest in justice in this case can be met with an alternative to a custodial sentence.”

In imposing the ECO, Judge Miller said while he accepted she had a multitude of physical and psychiatric issues and problems, “you will just have to knuckle down.”

He warned Bates that any failure to comply, “and you will find yourself back in this court and on the way to Hydebank [women’s prison].”

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