A WOMAN portrayed as a dominatrix during the trial of Anthea Jane Jones says the court claims are "complete rubbish".

And Abergavenny foster carer Debbie Benjamin, 44, says she is a grandmother whose "favourite sexual activity is having a cup of cocoa in front of Coronation Street".

Ms Benjamin appeared as a prosecution witness during Mrs Jones' trial, and Cardiff crown court heard that she had a card which showed her in a bikini, and said "visit the real dominatrix" and "resistance is futile".

Ms Benjamin told the court that the card was for a dance show she was planning - something she said did not involve sex.

Yesterday, Ms Benjamin, who cares for disabled children, said: "I understand the mention of a 'dominatrix' sells papers. If I've given people a laugh then it's all very well. At the trial I knew it was the angle the defence would take to try and discredit me.

"But my family, friends and neighbours know it's all complete rubbish.

"I'm not a rampant dominatrix. I became interested in doing a dominatrix dance show about five or six years ago. It involved no sex - it was purely dance with maybe wearing knee-length boots and a basque. It was all to do with mood setting and lighting and I had to find an angle to appeal to promoters."

The idea, she said, was to tour Europe with the show - and she said she thought she could have earned up to £5,000 a show with it.

But the idea came to nothing after she decided to concentrate on her career as a carer. Ms Benjamin said the past year, waiting for the trial, had been "hell".

Mrs Jones, 37, formerly of Black Rock, Clydach, near Abergavenny, was last week cleared of an allegation that she solicited former lover Lenny Loveridge to murder her millionnaire pharmacist husband Francis Jones, 60.

During her trial, it was revealed that Mrs Jones had sexual encounters with a number of men including with Mr Jones' son Magnus on the couple's wedding night in 1998.

Ms Benjamin came to know Mrs Jones when she began looking after her son Alex, who suffers from cerebral palsy, at an Abergavenny respite home.

She said: "I think she began to look on me as her closest friend. But I thought she was a selfish person and she openly portrays herself as a man-eater which most women don't take too kindly to."

Ms Benjamin said Mrs Jones began to "reveal an awful lot of her affairs to me but I was so uninterested."

She said Mr Jones "was a doting step-dad to Alex, who is a wonderful boy. He also doted on his wife. Francis worshipped the ground Jane walked on but she tore him to pieces. "When he heard about all the affairs - and he only found out about Magnus a few days before the trial - it was a complete bombshell."

Ms Benjamin says she is now planning to move on with her life with her fianc and partner of 18 months, Steve Hiles, 30, at the home they share with daughter Tobi, 18, in Maesygwartha, near Abergavenny. Ms Benjamin's son Jason, 23, lives in Hereford, and has a three-year-old daughter.