After falsely accusing a guy of rape and blackmailing him for money, a woman managed to escape punishment.
Following Chelsea Orton’s falsehoods, her victim underwent abuse and was left dependent on antidepressants.
The 22-year-old admitted to blackmailing the unnamed man between July and August 2019 for £200.
In an effort to support her tale, Orton even went so far as to inform the man’s relatives about the rape fake.
But when her victim mustered the courage to call the police, the single mother was finally exposed.
Orton, from Nuneaton, Warwickshire, admitted to blackmail and was slapped with an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months at Warwick Crown Court.
She was also had to give the victim £200 in damages.
The victim became so desperate to stop Orton from calling him that he changed his phone number.
Only after the victim told a coworker about the blackmailing did they advise him to call the police.
The police began looking into the alleged rape before the alleged blackmail on August 5 after Orton went to them and said she had been raped.
Prosecutor Caroline Harris said: “The defendant was interviewed on the 5th of January and she accepted that the telephone number was hers and said she wasn’t responsible for sending all the messages and blamed her friend.
“She said she would not have asked the victim for his bike or phone as they would have meant a lot to him.
“She accepted taking money from him, around £60 to £100 and when a higher figure was put to her she accepted that this was possible too.”
She told the victim’s family about the alleged rape and went to the police about it too (
Paul Beard / SWNS)
In a victim statement read out by Ms Harris, the victim said he had been left needing antidepressants to get over the claims.
He said: “When all this first happened and Chelsea was blackmailing me I felt trapped. I was scared and this caused me anxiety. As it went on and it was reported to the police I became depressed. I had sleepless nights.
“Even though I hadn’t done anything wrong all I could think was that I would be arrested because of her lies.
“Her behaviour has had an impact on my social life. I had incidents when I was out at my local pub where random people would come up to me and call me a rapist.
“I had to see my GP to help me cope. I was prescribed anti-depressants.”
Recorder Louisa Cieci ra told Orton: “You are to be sentenced to one offence of blackmail.
“In July 2019 you told the victim that he had raped you and repeatedly demanded money from him in order to keep quiet and not report it to the police.
“The blackmail included the threat to report the matter to the police in respect of serious sexual offence. In terms of the harm that was caused I also think that was high.
“The impact on the victim has been quite severe, he had to go through a police investigation and is suffering ongoing distress as a result of your conduct.