A
woman falsely branded her ex-boyfriend as a child molester during
online chat's with his father.
Melissa
Watson, 47, of Abbot Gate, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk ended up being
arrested and prosecuted for harassment after the month-long
exchanges.
She
fought the charge, but was convicted after a trial of harassment
between June 9 and July 19, last year and is now banned from
contacting the victims.
Bexley
Magistrates Court heard the Facebook Messenger chats were motivated
by “malice.”
She
was sentenced to a twelve-month community order, which includes a
30-day Thinking Skills programme and 15-days rehabilitation.
Watson
was also ordered to pay £400 costs and an £85 victim surcharge.
She
was also placed under an indefinite restraining order not to contact
the victim nor members of his family or attend an identified address.
Magistrate
Miss Karla Lowe said: "It's serious enough to impose a community
order," after being told there were "complex issues"
and had been some legal argument earlier in the proceedings.
Prosecutor
Sam Mitchell said: "There were aggravating features of
publishing damaging information he was a paedophile causing him to be
estranged from his employers and friends.
He
had to have two weeks off work. They were false allegations on
Facebook over a month.
"The
judges at trial believed the victim's evidence and said malice was
the motivation."
Watson's
lawyer said there were a small number of communications over Facebook
Messenger over a month.
The
court heard their relationship broke up by mutual consent before she
received information in April last year.
There
was no planning, no communication with him.
Most
of the contact was civil and when he asked her to stop making the
allegations she did.
The
lawyer said he was "reluctant to divulge too much of the
personal circumstances," adding: "She works with the
homeless on the streets by cutting their hair."
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