Pregnant And Depressed Mother Of 4 Janine Wiles Invented Fake Abduction Of Her 2 Year Old Daughter To Get Ex-Boyfriend Darren Harbutt's Attention

It sparked a two-week manhunt and two innocent men were arrested
The judge said she must be jailed for six months but should be out in time to give birth to fifth baby

By MARTIN ROBINSON
PUBLISHED: 10:16 EST, 11 April 2012
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Lies: Janine Wiles, 24 from Blackpool, Lancashire, has been jailed for six months, at Preston Crown Court, for falsely reporting her daughter had been abducted from her backyard.

A pregnant mother-of-four has been jailed for six months for bogusly claiming her daughter had been abducted just to get attention from her ex-boyfriend.

Janine Wiles, whose fifth child is due in September, said her two-year-old was snatched in the garden of her Blackpool home - sparking a 13-day police manhunt and the arrest of two innocent men.

Sobbing in the dock she was told by Judge Pamela Badley at Preston Crown Court that it was her duty to jail her but added she should be out in time to give birth.

In June last year Wiley had given police an emotive account of how she saw a man walk off with her daughter in his arms before she grabbed her back.

The subsequent investigation involving 50 officers cost in excess of £50,000 and included an identity parade in which Wiles made a false identification, the court heard.

It led to fear in the neighbourhood as, unknown to Wiles, another abduction had been reported just streets away at around the same time.

But after police spotted holes in her account she admitted she had made the whole thing up.

Her former partner, and father of all of her children, Darren Harbutt, was in court to support her.

Sentencing, the judge told Wiles: 'You made a wholly false complaint to the police which was persistent, having made three statements in a graphic and moving account which caused an intensive police inquiry - leading to the arrest of two wholly innocent men.

'The effect of your actions, first of all, was public disquiet in a community that causes concern to every parent, every school, every responsible adult.'
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Attention: Wiles, shown heading for court, is pregnant with her fifth child but should get out of prison in time to give birth

Judge Badley said there was no 'positive reason' for her committing the offence.

'It is not a revenge case out of bitterness,' she told Wiles. 'It is perhaps more out of need in your case.
'You required attention. You had a hard life - the care of four children and a relationship that was slightly lukewarm at the time.

'There is, however, a public aspect to this. I have a public duty regarding anyone who causes an investigation of this type and, most importantly, that brings about the arrest and undoubtedly the worry with those who were being investigated for a crime that had not taken place.

'You have not had an easy life but at the same time you are blessed with four lovely children, a relationship which is now stronger and the prospect of another child.

'At the age of 24 you have a great deal to look forward to but I am sorry to say that I have come to the conclusion that this has to be an immediate sentence of custody.'

Wiles pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to intending to pervert the course of justice.

The defendant was told she would serve half her sentence and it was 'highly likely' she would give birth after she was freed.

Francis McEntee, prosecuting, said Wiles’s initial complaint on the evening of June 30 led to a 'wild goose chase”.

'She gave a fabricated story in which she said she saw a male walking out of the rear of the address with a two-year-old child in his arms,' he said.

DECEPTION SIMILAR TO 'BRITAIN'S WORST MOTHER' KAREN MATTHEWS
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Wiles' deception is similar to the one carried out by Karen Matthews, above, in 2008.

Matthews, 36, was nicknamed ‘Britain’s worst mother’ after she hatched a plot to abduct her daughter Shannon, below right, then aged nine, in February 2008 in an elaborate attempt to claim a £50,000 reward.

She was released from prison this month after serving just half of an eight-year sentence for kidnapping her daughter.

The mother of seven was freed from Foston Hall prison in Derbyshire and taken to a secret location believed to be within 30 miles of her former home in Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire.
Matthews and her accomplice, Michael Donovan, 44, sparked a £3.2million police hunt when they kidnapped Shannon from her home.

A tearful Matthews made TV appeals pleading with her daughter’s abductor to set her free and hundreds of local people helped search for the girl.

Shannon was found by police 24 days later in Donovan’s flat a mile away, hidden in a compartment under a bed. Donovan, who was also jailed for eight years, was released last week.

'She described a confrontation and having to grab the child from him, and the male made off from the scene on a pedal cycle.'

Police were called to the house in Erdington Road as a full-blown investigation began with extensive screening of available CCTV footage in the neighbourhood.

Wiles went on to give a 'very detailed” description of the man and an 'emotive account” of her child screaming 'Mummy, Mummy” with another child, who was playing in the backyard, shouting out: 'Janine, he’s got her.'

The prosecutor continued: 'As the inquiry developed, a number of discrepancies arose from the information provided by this defendant and those discrepancies were put to her on July 12 when she admitted she had, in fact, essentially made the whole incident up.'

Wiles was arrested and told detectives that a 10-year-old girl had told her a stranger had entered the locked backyard, although there was no evidence to support this.

Mr McEntee said Wiles 'took on board' the girl’s description to her and 'effectively developed the story'.
The resulting investigation led to “repeated concerns and calls from those living in the neighbourhood who were all in fear that this offender may strike again”.

He added: 'The police were in no position to allay those fears because they were chasing a phantom offender.'

Virginia Hayton, defending, said Wiles had been suffering from depression at the time of the offence after recently breaking up with her partner.

The cry for help had ironically provided the support she needed as her lover moved back in and she also received help from her mother and local agencies.

Asking for a suspended sentence to be imposed, Ms Hayton said: 'She is genuinely remorseful. She is absolutely terrified with the prospect of immediate imprisonment.

'This was not premeditated. She found herself getting swept away.'

Read more: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Have these "mother's" ever heard of birth control???