Stacy Sharples’ lies cost roughly £120,000 in public spending
A mother faces time in prison after fabricating rape allegations against 10 men in what a court heard was a “wicked pack of lies”.
Stacy Sharples, from Bolton, triggered a series of police investigations that saw some of the men held in custody for hours and others left on bail or under investigation for months. None were ever charged.
Several of the men had engaged in consensual sex with her; others had never had any sexual contact at all. In one case, after a man who had been cleared happened to pass her in the street, Sharples ran into a chip shop and dialled 999, falsely claiming he was threatening to kill her, Bolton Crown Court was told.
When she was told that police were actually investigating her, Sharples told the man: “They’re not pressing charges. I’ve got away with it. Yet again.” However, she now faces a prison sentence after admitting charges of perverting the course of justice, MEN reports.
Sharples’ false allegations cost about £120,000 in public funds, the court was told, as she initially faced 19 charges. But, only 10 proceeded to court.
Judge Nicholas Clarke KC said that because Sharples had admitted a ‘sufficient number of counts to reflect the overall criminality’, it would not have been in the public interest to pursue more. Four of her victims attended the sentencing hearing.
“I want to make it clear to anybody that reads anything about their names anywhere, that these men’s lives have been blighted by unfortunate allegations which have been made involving some sort of sexual offending, none of which are true at all,” the judge said.
“Only belatedly by her pleas has she now acknowledged that it was all a wicked pack of lies.” Sharples’ lawyer admitted that he could offer ‘no satisfactory explanation’ for her crimes, but stressed there had been ‘concerns about her mental health and intellect for a significant period’.
Sharples, from Farnworth, Bolton, will be sentenced on Wednesday (March 11). Prosecuting, Mark Monaghan detailed that Sharples’ first victim was Kaylum Davies, whom she had been messaging for a few days, after being put in touch by a friend.
The court heard how, on Boxing Day, 2013, Sharples attended Mr Davies’ friend’s house, where other people were present, and that she mostly spent her time by herself, looking at her phone. After an hour, she left the house without saying goodbye to others.
Sharples then called her brother, falsely claiming to be in danger. She told her brother and father that Mr Davies and other men had forced her to perform a sex act on him. She went on to fabricate that she had been attacked by nine men and threatened with a knife.
Mr Monaghan told the court that her claims were ‘complete fabrication’, and that he’d had no sexual contact with her at all. Mr Davies was arrested and interviewed, while Sharples refused to attend an appointment at a sexual assault referral centre.
Mr Davies was not charged, but spent 18 months on bail as police began to notice inconsistencies in Sharples’ claims.
A second victim, James Blundell, met up with Sharples after they had met via the dating website Plenty of Fish. He was invited to a hostel where she was living, in Burnage, on February 4, 2018. Mr Blundell said the pair had consensual sex, but explained that he had left after being made to feel uneasy by some of her comments.
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He told her that he was going for a cigarette, but left. Sharples messaged him, to no reply, before falsely telling hostel staff that someone had done something to her ‘which she did not want’. Police were alerted and told by Sharples that she had been raped.
Mr Blundell spent 17 hours in police custody after being arrested, and was eventually interviewed. He was released under investigation for six months.
Astron Inman, Sharples’ third victim, met her months later via Facebook after she ‘randomly’ added him. They met on August 11, 2018, after Sharples sent him a topless picture of herself and said she wanted to join him in the shower.
Mr Inman picked her up in his car, they had consensual sex, and later he dropped her off at her home. She then contacted police, describing the man as her ‘partner’ and stating he had raped her, but that she didn’t know his surname or where the alleged ‘rape’ happened.
Police took a graphic account of the alleged rape from Sharples, in which she also claimed that Mr Inman had added her on Facebook. Mr Inman was arrested and spent eight hours in police custody awaiting interview.
He provided his Facebook messages, and the police mapped out the real interaction. Continuing her twisted trend, Sharples contacted Andrew Dearden on Plenty of Fish in February 2019.
They had consensual sex before she asked him if they were now a couple. When they parted ways, Mr Dearden was ‘bombarded’ with messages from her, asking where he was, what he was doing and if he loved her. She also asked to meet again.
He agreed to meet again, at a Cash Generator shop near her home, to help her sell a TV. She told Mr Dearden to wait outside before entering the store and calling the police, reporting she had been raped by Mr Sharples the night before.
Police arrived and arrested him there. He spent eight-and-a-half hours in police custody before being interviewed. Mr Dearden was able to provide officers with the messages Sharples had sent. She refused to attend an appointment for an interview with police.
Reece Lockett and Conor Austin were also victims of Sharples. Mr Lockett met her through Plenty of Fish in late 2018. Mr Monaghan said there was some sexual contact between the pair but that he did not pursue it further because he thought she was ‘weird’.
Sharples asked to meet him again in April 2019. She said she would be with a friend, and Mr Lockett asked his cousin Mr Austin if he also wanted to attend. They went for a walk at a reservoir, but Mr Lockett had changed his mind about being interested in Sharples. After, Mr Lockett declined to drive Sharples home but said he’d drop her off nearby.
The court heard that Sharples was ‘annoyed’ and told him ‘watch what happens now’. She called 999 and accused both men of rape. Mr Lockett spent three hours in police custody, and Mr Austin two-and-a-half hours.
Mr Lockett later confronted Sharples in the street, after bumping into her, a couple of months later. Sharples ran into a chip shop and called 999, claiming ‘there’s a guy I got done for rape a while ago threatening to kill me’. Mr Lockett made a comment about the police taking an interest in her.
“I’ve been let go. They’re not pressing charges,” she said. “I’ve got away with it. Yet again.”
Anthony Green received multiple messages from Sharples before they met at his flat in June 2019. They engaged in sexual contact, but did not actually have sex, until she asked him to stop, and he did.
“All of this was done consensually,” said Mr Monaghan. Mr Green offered to get her a taxi, which he did, and she left. Mr Green then received a text saying he’d hurt her, bitten and strangled her. “None of that was true”, Mr Monaghan explained.
Sharples told police she’d been sexually attacked, that Mr Green had strangled and bitten her before penetrating her. She continued to allege that she ‘couldn’t get him off her and that he wouldn’t let her leave’.
Mr Green was arrested in 2019 and spent 12 hours in custody.
The defendant then changed her allegation, saying he hadn’t done much of what she’d claimed. The case was dropped against him in 2019. Two further victims of Sharples were Andrew Jackson and Jack Byrne. She made a single false allegation about them both.
They lived together at the time in a house, and in August 2019 received a Facebook message from Sharples saying she ‘wanted something to do’, along with a friend of hers.
The two men invited the pair to their house, and the women arrived with two bottles of vodka. They spend the next few hours drinking and taking some drugs. “There was no sexual contact”, Mr Monaghan said.
Sharples’ facial piercing was hurting and started to bleed towards the end of the evening, and she asked her dad to come and collect her. She then sent messages to Mr Byrne, who said ‘she was pestering me on Facebook and texting me loads all night’. Eventually, Mr Byrne said: “Will you f*** off? Don’t ever ring me at eight o’clock in the morning again.”
“It might not have been the kindest response, but it does not in any way justify calling the police,” Mr Monaghan said. Sharples alleged that the two men got her drunk to the point she ‘didn’t know what was happening’, pinned her down, threatened her and sexually assaulted her by penetrating her.
She claimed the two men said they would attack her, and called her a ‘sket’ and a ‘b****’. Sharples claimed they’d punched her, but there were no bruises to her face.
Both men denied any rape. Sharples refused to be medically examined, and tests on her underwear found no presence of semen. Sharples’ final victim was Lee Dixon, who met her through the dating app Badu.
They both exchanged ‘flirty’ messages, four days after Sharples had called the police on Mr Byrne and Mr Jackson. Mr Dixon invited her to his home on August 17, 2019.
The court heard how Sharples ‘suggested they go upstairs and made it clear she wanted sexual contact’. They had consensual sex, which was proved by a video recording which was taken, prosecutors said. More sexual messages were exchanged that day.
“‘Mr Dickinson’s first knowledge of any complaint was later that day when he was told the defendant had contact police and accused him of rape’.” Mr Monaghan said.
Sharples deleted her side of their WhatsApp chat, but the messages showed that they had been discussing how they’d enjoyed their sexual encounter. In his victim impact statement, Mr Dickinson said his experience with the defendant and her false claims led him to have a ‘mental breakdown’.
After Sharples was arrested, she told police: “You need to look into my mental health. That’s all I need to say. You’ll never understand, I had a s*** upbringing.” She also claimed she had emotionally unstable personality disorder.
“I’m a ticking timebomb,” she added, “you flip me off and I’ll flip back.” Mr Monaghan said it was a ‘conservative estimate’ that the defendant had cost the police, criminal justice, and sexual assault health services £120,000 as a result of her false allegations, due to the investigations they instigated, and all of the police, legal and medical time they required.
One victim in an impact statement told of how he’d ’moved to Sweden to reevaluate my life and I wasn’t part of my children’s life for a few years’. He said he now struggles to approach women, adding: “I have a lot of hate for that girl, I hope she gets what she deserves, it makes me sick to my core.”
A number of men told in their victim impact statements that they were prevented from seeing their children after the allegations, were excommunicated from their families and friends, struggled to form any romantic relationships, and have been left with PTSD. One man said the false allegations about him took him to such a dark place he thought about ending his life. Another called the defendant a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’.
Judge Clarke said: “I take the view that she was a sexual predator. This has taken resources away from genuine crime and genuine victims.”
Defending Sharples, Hunter Gray said the victims in the case would be questioning why the defendants had made the false allegations. Mr Gray said: “In reality there is no satisfactory explanation that can be given.
“It’s not just the harm to these victims, but genuine victims of rape are damaged, as is the wider administration of the criminal justice system.” He said of the defendant: “It is correct that there have been concerns about her mental health and intellect for a significant period of time.”
Mr Gray said that Sharples ‘still struggles to accept full responsibility’ but has shown ‘some remorse’ and ‘some insight’. He conceded that a custodial sentence was inevitable in her case.
Sharples, of Lucas Road, Farnworth, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of perverting the course of justice. She was remanded in custody.
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