Partner’s lies kept man jailed

Jan 25 2008 by Sam Wonfor, The Journal

A MAN spent 14 days in custody after his partner falsely accused him of making threatening telephone calls to her from prison.

Joy Mackay, 34, a mother-of-two, of Forber Avenue, South Shields, alleged that David Parkin had called her from jail warning her to drop charges he faced of common assault on her, disorderly conduct and possessing a bladed article.

Parkin went on to serve a four-month sentence for the offences – only to find himself back in custody the minute he was released, Newcastle Crown Court was told.

Mackay’s bogus police statement meant Parkin spent a further two weeks on remand – despite two bail applications – before her lies were revealed, the court was told.

Prosecutor Simon Worthy said: “Mackay made a statement to police in which she alleged he rang her on three occasions from prison.

“She claimed in the conversations, he told her to drop the charges against him.

“She said during the conversation of the third call, she told him she was cracking up and couldn’t cope any more and in a voluntary police statement, she said she was absolutely terrified the court would pass a non custodial penalty. As a result of the allegations on June 22 he was charged with harassment and spent 14 days in custody regarding this allegation.”

Mackay was jailed for two weeks after admitting perverting the course of justice.

Passing sentence, Judge John Evans told her: “As a result of the lies you told police for whatever reason, someone who should not have spent time in custody, who protested his innocence and was ignored, ended up spending 14 days in custody until this injustice was removed.

“Behaving in the way you did was something the public must understand will not be tolerated.”

Bob Spragg, defending, said Mackay had never been in trouble with the police before had been subjected to five years of physical and emotional abuse by David Parkin and had low self-esteem.