Wells accepts woman’s apology over false statement to police

Wells accepts woman’s apology over false statement to police

12 October 2016

FORMER DUP Health Minister Jim Wells says he has forgiven a woman whose lies to police about a controversial hustings meeting in Downpatrick helped bring about his political downfall.

Mr Wells said he accepted a public apology made by Dorothy Elaine Gardner at Downpatrick Courthouse on Friday when she successfully appealed a three-month jail sentence for wasting police time by making a false report.

Instead of the jail term Judge Piers Grant imposed 100 hours of community service and a 15-month probation order.

Standing in the dock, 49 year-old Gardner said she “deeply, deeply regretted” what she had done.

“I sincerely wish I hadn’t said to police what I said to them,” she said in a trembling voice. “I made a terrible mistake. I wish to say to Mr Wells that I apologise from the bottom of my heart.”

Mr Wells, who was sitting in the public gallery a few feet away, later said he accepted her apology and that the reduction in the sentence was “the right decision.”

Gardner, of Killucan Road, Cookstown, had claimed in a police statement that she was at the controversial hustings event in Downpatrick on April 23, 2015, when Mr Wells was widely reported to have made homophobic remarks about gay marriage, leading to the loss of his ministerial position.

Gardner told police she attended the event and claimed she left after hearing Mr Wells making comments about medical treatment for people with HIV and about children raised by parents in same-sex relationships.

After a police investigation which resulted in ten hours of police man hours being wasted, it was discovered that Gardner had not been at the meeting.

A tran of what Mr Wells actually said at the meeting was obtained and proved that Mr Wells had not made the alleged remarks.

Gardner also told police she had been at the home of two friends in Rathfriland a few days after the hustings event when there was an incident with Mr Wells regarding his comments about same-sex couples. It was later revealed that the women involved in the incident did not know Gardner.

When police put this information to Gardner, she told them she had made up the stories because she wanted Mr Wells to be prosecuted.

At Friday’s appeal hearing Mr Noel Dillon, defending, said Gardner had been in a same-sex relationship with a woman, who had died from cancer, and was “outraged” by Mr Wells’ reported remarks at the hustings event.

“That was the motivation in her statement to police,” Mr Dillon remarked. “An investigation was ongoing and there were a number of discrepancies between Miss Gardner’s account and other accounts.”

Referring to the findings of a pre-sentence report, Mr Dillon said Gardner would be suitable for a number of community-based sentences, other than a custodial sentence. He also said the likelihood of her reoffending was “very low.”

Passing sentence, Judge Grant said there was a fine line between freedom of expression and telling lies.

“Whatever view she has on Mr Wells, she is not entitled to tell lies,” he remarked.

“It must be deplored when someone tells lies to blacken the name of an individual and set police on an inquiry that was totally unnecessary.

“It is with hesitation that I will remove the custodial sentence because of what I read in the pre-sentence report, but this needs to be marked as a serious offence. The message needs to go out that whatever your political view, you are not entitled to make up lies.”

Afterwards, Mr Wells said: “Ms Gardner apologised to me in open court and made it clear that there was no truth whatsoever in the allegations she made against me. I believe that apology was sincere and fulsome.

“When the case was concluded Ms Gardner approached me as I sat in the court waiting area and we had a 20-minute conversation. During this she repeated her apology and made it clear she should never have gone to the police to lodge her complaints against me.

“Again I felt that Ms Gardner was being honest with me and I told her that I had accepted her apology and forgave her for what she had done.”

Mr Wells said he was pleased Judge Grant stated he had read the speech he made at the hustings event in Downpatrick and that there was nothing in it to justify or support Gardner’s allegations.

Mr Wells confirmed that he is pursuing with other action to clear his name and has issued four writs for defamation.

“A huge stain has been left on my my character as a result of what happened 18 months ago,” he said. “My political career was left in tatters and there are still those who believe the false allegations against me. I will leave no stone unturned to remove the stain.

“Throughout the last 18 months I have always made it clear that all I wanted from those who made allegations against me was an apology. I am not interested in financial compensation or prison sentences.

“I have to accept that the allegations by four people after the Downpatrick event have caused irreparable damage to my political career. A career that had taken 35 years to build crashed in 17 seconds for something I never said.”

He added: “I don’t see how I can come back from what happened, but I remain determined that if others fail to follow Ms Gardner’s example they too will the courts.

“My decision to forgive Ms Gardner should not in any way be interpreted as a sign of weakness when it comes to others who have not as yet faced up the huge damage they caused me.”