32-year old married woman accuse teen of r.a.p.e, then lied he was the father of her child

A mum who lied to a teenage boy that he was the father of her child and accused him of r3pe has been jailed.

Married Sarah Dowson persuaded the then-18-year-old that during their s.e.x trysts he had made her pregnant.

She was only caught out when police spent £100,000 investigating her fraud and unearthed false baby scans she had bought on the internet.

She had had s.e.x with the teenager in woodland and fields after falling for him while celebrating his birthday.


Jailing the 32-year-old mother, a judge told her: "This was a mendacious course perpetrated against a young man 10 years your junior, who did not want to continue to have a sexual relationship with you.

"Your conduct was deliberate and vengeful, designed to cause trouble for your victim."

At Reading Crown Court, Dowson admitted three counts of perverting the course of justice and one count of fraud.

Her husband Thomas Dowson admitted one count of perverting the course of justice. He received a suspended sentence.

The court heard that when the teenager told Dowson that he wanted to end their affair, she told him she had become pregnant.

She started bombarding his mother with requests for child maintenance payments, after brandishing the baby scan photos.

When the teenager's family went to the police to complain about harassment, Dowson lodged a malicious allegation that the teen had r3ped her.

She then further lied about him showing up at her home and sending her malicious messages, lies which were backed up by her husband, who believed the r3pe claim.

Judge Morris heard that the lies by Dowson started to unravel when police found the results of a DNA test, which she had hidden from the teenager and his family and which proved it was her husband who was the father all along.

The teenager had to wrongly tell his parents he had fathered a child, leading to a three-and-a-half year period where his family looked after the baby boy as if he were their own, the court heard.

Prosecutor Simon Jones told the court that Dowson started sending sexual messages to the teenager.

She had s.e.x with him in a wooded area after they went out to celebrate his 18th birthday, the judge was told.

"A few weeks after this, Mrs Dowson contacted [the teen] to say she was pregnant and it was his baby. [The teen] was not happy about that and he made no secret of the fact that he wanted Mrs Dowson to have a termination," said Mr Jones.

However, the prosecutor said police had discovered messages between Dowson and her husband which suggested she had not been pregnant at all and had actually been having a heavy period.

Despite that, Dowson sent her victim several thousand messages over 100 days, at a rate of four messages per day, until she threatened suicide if he did not impregnate her, at which point he relented and they had sex four or five more times, the prosecution said.

Dowson became pregnant and gave birth to a baby on November 2016, but she was supported through her full-term by the mother of the teenager, who thought it was her grandchild.

The teen's mum had received fake scan images from Dowson which the prosecution said had been purchased from a retailer on eBay, which allowed purchasers to add customised details such as the date of the scan, the mother's name and details which would be consistent with how far along the person would be.

It later emerged Dowson had sent a doctored image, a DNA test result she had changed to make it say the teen was the father of her child, to the child maintenance service to try and fraudulently obtain payments from him.

Police had called Dowson into Basingstoke police station for a voluntary interview in respect of the harassment claim on February 23 2017, the judge heard.

Mr Jones said: "The next morning, she emailed Hampshire Constabulary and alleged [the teen] raped her two years ago.

Following the allegation, the teen was arrested and kept in police custody for 10 and a half hours for questioning. He was further interviewed under caution four times when Dowson later alleged he had been harassing her.

The court heard how Dowson had claimed to receive emails, Facebook messages and Snapchat messages from the teen and his girlfriend, where they admitted the alleged rape and threatened to kill her, although the defendant had actually fabricated those messages.

Thomas Dowson had assisted his wife by claiming he had seen the teen and his girlfriend outside their home and lied to the police about the couple harassing his wife.

A lawyer defending Thomas Dowson said he had truly believed the allegations made by his wife, who he had known since secondary school, about the r3pe were true and he wanted to support her.

Summarising the prosecution case, Mr Jones said: "This has been a deliberate, malicious vendetta against [the teen].

"It is submitted this amounted to a campaign of harassment in the most serious form, causing an impact upon [the teen], who has felt that the false accusations, harassment and bullying has taken its toll on him, leaving him upset, frustrated and angry."

Sarah Dowson, of Hutchins Way, Basingstoke, Hants., appearing from HMP Bronzefield via videolink, was jailed for three and a half years.

Thomas Dowson, of the same address, was ordered to complete 10 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days, as well as being made subject to a restraining order.