A MUM-OF-THREE has been sent to prison for 18 months after being found guilty of falsely accusing an 18-year-old of rape.

Sophie Skinner, 25, of Woodland Crescent, Llanfoist, Abergavenny, was found guilty of perverting the course of public justice after she made a false allegation of rape against Damon Osborne in June 2016.

CCTV footage from a Wetherspoons pub showed Skinner, then 23, out alone and "looking for attention" on the night in question, Newport Crown Court today (October 12) heard.

The footage showed Skinner approach a then 18-year-old Mr Osborne and a friend who she knew through Facebook and engage them in conversation before moving on.

Footage next caught her near the public toilets on White Horse Lane, asking a group of girls to have a photograph with her. The court today heard footage then showed Skinner spotting Mr Osborne, who was waiting for a lift home.

Summing up the footage, Judge Daniel Williams said: "You ran over to him and hugged him. You ask him if he wanted to have sex with you in the public toilets. The CCTV could not have been clearer . You initiated sex with him and in the course of the sexual activity with him in the toilets you asked if he would be your partner.

South Wales Argus:

(Sophie Skinner outside court today)

"He said no because he had a girlfriend. When he gave in to your persistent demands for sex you told him you could get him into a lot of trouble. He took that to mean you would tell his girlfriend. I'm not sure that it was your intention at that time to make a false claim against him."

The court heard that about an-hour-and-a-half after having sex with Mr Osborne in the toilet, Skinner returned to the Wetherspoons, where she approached the door staff and told them she had been raped.

Police attended and when trained officers spoke to her, Skinner told them she had been raped. The court heard Skinner was medically examined the next day and was later video interviewed by the police.

Mr Osborne was arrested on June 5, and Judge Daniels noted he "strenuously and completely denied the charges."

In a victim impact statement partly read out to the court today, Mr Osborne spoke of being held for 17 hours by police and having to undergo a humiliating medical examination where a nurse took swabs from his penis.

"This was all alien to me," said Mr Osborne, who had never been in trouble with the police before.

"I was scared and very nervous. I was given very strict bail conditions, which had a massive impact on my work and social life. I was working in two shops, and had to tell them both about the bail conditions. One employer told me later that I was no longer required which cut my wages in half overnight.

"I had to tell my girlfriend at the time and my grandmother, who I was living with. It caused great upset to them both.

"I was afraid to go outside in case someone found out I had been accused of rape. I couldn't stop thinking of the worst case scenario, that someone would believe her, even though I knew that didn't do anything.

"I would now be serving a very long prison sentence."

Mr Osborne was asked by police if he would testify against Skinner, and participated in two trials as a witness. Skinner was found guilty by a jury after a retrial.

In mitigation, Marian Lewis admitted that the pre sentence report prepared would not be of much use to the judge, as Skinner had refused to elaborate on her motivation for committing the crime.

Ms Lewis noted that Skinner had no convictions recorded against her name, and that she was the mother of three young children, the youngest of which was just one-year-old.

"She's a young woman with a very young family. The only plea that I can put forward on her behalf is that your honour temper justice with a degree of mercy."

Sentencing Skinner, whose youngest child is just one-year-old, Judge Williams said: "Rape is a repulsive crime. No one doubts the victims must be treated with with every possible consideration by the justice system. On the other hand, because it is such a repulsive crime a false allegation can have dreadful consequences.

"Not only for the innocent man. Because for every occasion a false allegation is proved it has an insidious affect on true claims, throwing doubt on claims where none should in truth exist.

Skinner will serve half her sentence in jail and be forced to pay a victim surcharge upon her release.

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