Stab attack claim in bid for revenge

Katie Louise Jones, 25, of Shrewsbury and Danielle Boffey, 30, of Manchester, were sentenced to two years in prison suspended for two years, for perverting the course of justice, at Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday.

Boffey had called 999 saying: "My girlfriend has been stabbed" and the pair went to Wellington Police Station where they told officers Aaron Doran had attacked Jones outside the Albion Vaults Pub opposite Shrewsbury train station.

Wrongly accused, Mr Doran was arrested and spent five hours in a cell while police checked CCTV and saw Jones had cut her hand by punching a window at the railway station on the night of March 5.

Mr Doran was found not guilty of the murder and manslaughter of Scott Cooke by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court on January 7 2013.

Mr Cooke, the godparent to Boffey's children, was stabbed to death at Monkmoor Recreation Ground on December 27, 2011.

The court heard that Jones, of Fitzalan Grange and Boffey, of Moorside Road, Urmston, had been in an "unhealthy relationship" at the time and were no longer together.

Mr Andrew Barkley, defending Boffey, said of their fabricated story: "It was borne out of drunkenness and was a clear attempt to seek revenge on Mr Doran who she thinks is in some way responsible for the death of her friend."

And Ms Emma Lineton, for Jones, said: "This was not a prolonged perversion nor was it a sophisticated one."

Sentencing, Recorder Julian Taylor said: "This is a very serious matter. It involved the imprisonment of an innocent man.

"Whatever the background or previous history, perverting the course of justice would have been a sentence of 12 months immediate custody, but I am prepared to give the pair of you a second chance."

They were both ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work within one year.

And they must each pay £250 compensation to Mr Doran within six months, and pay a court surcharge of £100.