National outcry over Welshpool 'rape' woman

 

A Welshpool woman jailed for “falsely retracting” allegations that she had been raped by her husband was last night (Monday) expected to lodge an appeal against her eight-month prison sentence.

There was outcry last Friday when the unnamed 28-year-old was sent to jail for perverting the course of justice after she decided to withdraw the rape allegations - not, she said, because they were false, but because her estranged husband and his sister had “emotionally blackmailed” her into doing so.

National newspapers reported that campaigners have called for her immediate release, saying the prosecution sent out a “chilling message” to rape victims. The woman’s solicitor told one national newspaper yesterday that her legal representatives were preparing an appeal application against her sentence. It also became the subject of a heated day-time television debate.

Holly Dustin, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: “Imprisoning a woman for a ‘false retraction’ of a rape allegation sends out a chilling message that the criminal justice system is still in the dark ages in relation to sexual violence and does not understand the pressure women come under from perpetrators during the legal process.”

Newspapers quoted her as adding that the move could make victims less likely to report rape to police if they felt they could themselves be dragged before the courts and face a jail sentence if they did not proceed with the allegations.

It was reported that the woman dialled 999 last November to tell officers she had been raped six times by her husband. Police charged him with rape and he was remanded. In January, however, as the case against her husband proceeded, she told officers she wanted to drop the charges, even though she still maintained they were true.

The reports added that In February, she said she had lied about the rape claims, and they were untrue. Officers from Dyfed-Powys Police then arrested her and she was charged with perverting the course of justice. In July, the woman changed her mind once again, saying the rapes had actually happened.

Last night a spokesperson for Dyfed-Powys Police told mywelshpool.co.uk: “The decision to charge anyone with an offence of perverting the course of justice is not taken lightly and would only be taken with the consent and the authority of the Crown Prosecution Service.”