A woman who made a false complaint of rape against another man has been given a suspended sentence for lying to police.
Married Marianne Naughton, 25, from Ramsey, made the accusation after the pair had sex after a drunken night out in Douglas in November 2019.
She pleaded guilty after a police investigation later found she had given false details about the incident.
Deemster Graeme Cook told Naughton “people need to come clean”.
He said lying to police “goes against the root of society”, while telling Naughton to “move on with her life” and “not to drink as much”.
“This type of allegation does stick”, the Deemster said, after the court heard the man had been hit by a colleague at work and lost friends as a result of the false complaint.
‘Unsure if consented’
Naughton said she met the man at the Nags Head pub in Douglas on 2 November, after her husband had gone home, and claimed she did not remember how she ended up at his flat.
She said she had meant to take a taxi home alone and was “unsure if she consented” to having sex with him, while the man said on “no occasion did she suggest she was uncomfortable”.
After speaking to her husband the following day Naughton made the complaint to police, who then arrested and interviewed the man on 4 November.
There was no further action taken against the man after investigations involving CCTV footage highlighted inconsistencies in Naughton’s account, and she was charged with committing an act against public justice.
She was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and was ordered to pay £2,000 in compensation to the victim, as well as prosecution costs.
Source: Ramsey woman gets suspended sentence after false rape allegation – BBC News
