A woman who had an extra-marital affair has been jailed for 21 months after she publicly accused her lover of being a child abuser because he refused to end his marriage.
Yvonne Graham, 45, falsely alleged that Andrew Nelson, 55, was a pedophile in a series of posters which she put up around the neighborhood of Hornsea, East Yorkshire.
Mrs Graham seemingly acted out of revenge in the manner of the spurned lover played by Glenn Close in the 1987 movie Fatal Attraction, apparently furious because she had been under the impression that Nelson was going to leave his wife and set up home with her.
During a 16-month campaign, mother-of-two Mrs Graham terrorized Nelson and his family, sending explicit letters about him to his wife, children, neighbors, his children’s school and even his golf club.
Graham, the part-owner of the successful Foxglove Care Homes business, met Nelson, the owner of a profitable timber business, in 2011.
They had an undetected affair for a year until their respective partners found out about it in October 2012. The affair continued until May 2014.
Graham was arrested in September 2015 and a sample of her handwriting was found to match one of the notes about Nelson.
Richard Thompson, prosecuting, said Graham’s worst crime was creating laminated posters of Nelson showing a picture of him alongside the words: ‘He’s a paedophile. Watch it if you see him near your kids!’
A second poster showed Nelson next to a picture of a convicted local pedophile. It said: ‘What have these two dirty paedophiles got in common. One is locked up, the other is getting away with it.’
The campaign turned to death threats and a note suggesting an arson attack on Nelson’s timber business. It said: ‘You would not want a fire to start, would you. Tick Tock.’
Jailing Graham, Recorder Simon Jackson, QC, told Hull crown court (pictured): “Posters described him as a thief, dishonest, and most worryingly, that he was a paedophile . . . all of which were wicked lies that you perpetuated for your own selfish motivation.
“You embarked on an appalling campaign of harassment that made the life of the complainant and his family utterly miserable. There seemed no limit to the steps you would take. It was an attempt to destabilise his family in the hope that he would leave his wife.”
David Godfrey, for the defense, said Graham, who pleaded guilty to harassment, was “deeply sorry”. She has no known psychological disorders.
Graham was given an indefinite restraining order prohibiting her from contacting Nelson and his family. She must also pay Nelson’s legal bill and £1,500 (about $2,000) in court costs.