​Mother jailed after falsely accusing the dad of her child of domestic abuse

A fathers' rights charity has praised a sheriff for his “robust sentencing” of a mother who lied to discredit the dad of her child.

Sheriff Kevin Drummond QC sentenced Gayle Hunter to two months imprisonment and imposed a Community Payback Order on her mother Elsie Hunter after the two accused made false allegations of domestic abuse.

Families Need Fathers (FNF) praised the sheriff saying stricter sentencing is needed in Scottish courts as incidents of this kind were no longer rare.

Jedburgh Sheriff Court heard that the Gayle Hunter lied to the police, asked her mother to lie to the police to support this original lie, and even stated that her solicitor told her to invent a story.

Hunter only made her admission of guilt after it became clear her lie was under investigation and after the victim had been detained and spent 16 hours in custody.

Sheriff Drummond said she painted herself as a victim of abuse and used her child “as a source to advance her personal vendetta with her former partner” by, for example, making contrasting statements to police and in evidence about her child’s welfare.

One father was simply told by the desk officer to “go away and grow up - Ian Maxwell

Ian Maxwell, national manager of FNF Scotland, said: "We welcome Sheriff Drummond's robust sentencing decision and clear explanation for it.

“Unfortunately, this kind of manipulation of the current public concern over domestic abuse is not rare.

“We hear similar examples at most of our group meetings in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling and Aberdeen.

The Scottish Government recently concluded a consultation into whether current laws on domestic abuse are sufficient to incorporate what is known as coercive control - in effect non-violent abuse.

Maxwell added: “FNF Scotland has urged the government explicitly to include the wilful denial or disruption of parenting time as a serious offence within the criteria of coercive control."

A high proportion of the non-resident fathers who contact the group report that they experience the restriction or outright denial of parenting time with their children by their former partner as a form of domestic abuse, said Maxwell.

“We know that some non-resident parents (approximately 90% of whom are fathers) have attempted to report these incidents to police as instances of domestic abuse but are invariably told that this is a civil matter.

“One father was simply told by the desk officer to “go away and grow up”."

Sheriff Drummond noted that the Crown has faced criticism for its handling of domestic abuse cases.

He added: “It is proper that the Crown should be commended for the way in which it has investigated and presented the present case.

“It is also proper that the public should be aware that abuses such as these will be fully investigated in order that there can be public confidence in the approach which the Crown have adopted to cases of this kind.”