COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

A "manipulative" man told a court his mum had died of cancer in a disgraceful bid to to be treated more leniently by the courts



Jed Wheatley, formerly of Bedworth, was allowed to skip supervision appointments and unpaid work so he could travel to Coventry to care for her reports StokeonTrent Live.

But he then went one step further to claim his mother had died and that was the thrust of his barrister’s mitigation when he was sentenced for an assault on a man following a sexual encounter between them.

However, his "despicable" lies unravelled and Wheatley, 33, now of Grafton Road, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, has been prosecuted for perverting the course of justice after the court received information that his mum was alive and well.

In fact his mother watched on from the public gallery as he was locked up for 27 months at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on Friday (April 26).

The court heard the defendant committed a battery in November 2017 and was sentenced on April 13, 2018, to a community order with 60 hours unpaid work and a rehabilitation activity requirement for 20 days.

Mr McConaghy said: “His counsel, acting on instructions, put forward that the defendant’s mother had been gravely ill in November 2017, the time of the battery, and he had been going to Coventry to assist with her care. He reiterated she had died.”

But a week later the defendant reported to his probation officer that his ex-girlfriend had been spreading lies about him saying he had made up his mother’s death and he had received threats on Facebook.

Mr McConaghy said: “What he was doing was laying the groundwork for wriggling out of his lie.”

Wheatley pleaded guilty to doing an act intending to pervert the course of public justice between April 24, 2017, and April 14, 2018, and breaching a suspended sentence order.

Judge Paul Glenn told Wheatley: “Your conduct came to light after the court received information that the mitigation submitted by counsel on your behalf on April 13, 2018, was untrue.

“Your mother had in the past suffered from cancer but makes it plain she has been clear of that for five years or more.

“You lied to your probation officer that your mother was ill, suffering from cancer and you were regularly visiting her. You were given an enormous amount of latitude regarding appointments for supervision and unpaid work.

“On February 21, 2018, you told the officer your mother had died.

“I take a very serious view of perverting the course of justice. This was not a spur of the moment decision.

"You are manipulative, you are cunning. These were calculated actions of someone who is totally dishonest. You lied to a probation officer and continued with that lie to deceive the court.

“The lie you chose to tell was despicable, contemptible. Frankly it beggars belief. The assertions you made were truly shocking.

“It strikes at the heart of the criminal justice system and it must be deterred.”