Judges free Powys woman
Wednesday 24th November 2010, 5:00PM GMT.
A Mid Wales woman jailed after “falsely retracting” rape allegations against her husband has been freed by three senior judges sitting at the Court of Appeal in London.
The 28-year-old mother from Powys yesterday won a challenge against an eight-month prison term imposed this month after admitting a charge of perverting the course of justice.
Her sentence was overturned by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, sitting in London with Mr Justice Calvert-Smith and Mr Justice Griffith Williams.
They ruled the “appropriate” sentence in what was described by her barrister as an “exceptional” case, was a community sentence with a two-year supervision order.
The judge said when she appeared at Mold Crown Court “her sentence had to be assessed on the basis that she had perverted the course of justice by falsely retracting a truthful allegation that her husband had indeed raped her”.
Lord Judge said: “On her account – and we emphasise that we have not heard his – she was subjected to violent abuse and became very fearful of him.”
Last year he was charged with six counts of rape to which he pleaded not guilty, but she later said the allegations she had made were false.
Initially, the woman was charged with perverting the course of justice on the basis of making a false complaint but she later said it was the retraction, not the allegation of rape, which was false.
Lord Judge said there should be a “broad measure of compassion for a woman who had been “victimised”.
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