A teenage girl who falsely claimed that a motorist ordered her to “get out of the f***ing car” and pretended to be a police officer subsequently attributed her falsehoods to the effect Sarah Everard’s murder had on her.
According to testimony given in court, Olivia Johnson of Blakenall, Walsall in the West Midlands “concocted” the story that led to the man’s, 66-year-old, arrest.
The 19-year-old said that a driver honked at her to get out of her Volkswagen Polo after motioning for her to stop and claiming that it was a stolen vehicle.
She didn’t have her own lights on, so the 66-year-old actually flashed his lights at her to “help.”
As it was growing dark and there was “torrential” rain, he claimed he tried to assist but kept silent to her.
However, Johnson denounced him to authorities a short while later and made up the tale that he had pretended to be a police officer. For four days, she kept up the account, presenting herself as “a victim.”
But after a comprehensive examination of the CCTV footage and a thorough police investigation, her tale started to fall apart.
She allegedly blamed her behaviour on how Sarah Everard’s death affected her. In March of last year, Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens abducted, raped, and killed Sarah.
The incident left the victim feeling traumatised, and he was a suspect for more than two months before his case was finally closed on Christmas Eve.
Johnson admitted to tampering with the administration of justice. On Thursday (July 7), she sobbed as she was given an eight-month jail term at a young offender institution.
Judge Melbourne Inman QC, passing sentence at Birmingham Crown Court, said the offence ‘undermines the whole of public justice’.
The encounter between Johnson and the victim occurred at around 3:10pm on October 4 last year as she was driving along Bentley Mill Way, Walsall, and noticed a Nissan Juke behind her.
Prosecutor John Brotherton repeated the story she later told to police in her statement.
Mr Brotherton said: ‘She said he flashed her numerous times and gestured to pull over. She stopped the vehicle. The driver got out and approached the driver’s side of her Polo.
‘She opened the window slightly to talk to him. He said: ‘Get out the f***ing car, it’s a stolen f***ing car’. He attempted to open the door. Ms Johnson said: ‘It’s my car I’ve got proof it’s my vehicle. I will show it to you’.
‘The man said: ‘Get out right now I’m a police officer’. The defendant asked to see his badge. He replied: ‘I don’t have a badge’ and tried to open the rear door. She attempted to drive off when she received a last thump to her car. She said she feared for her own safety.’
The prosecutor said Johnson parked up at Reedswood Retail Park and reported the ‘incident’ at 6:56pm via the West Midlands Police live chat facility. The motorist was arrested the following day.
Johnson was unable to pick him out during an identification parade.
Mr Brotherton added: ‘He is mentally distraught and has been since the incident. He was severely shook up.
‘He had only been trying to help by flashing his lights. It has affected his wife and children. He has been in custody for nearly 24 hours.
‘He was petrified he was going to be charged. He felt stunned and criminalised. He can’t put into words how deeply upset he is about it.’
Despite the Crown Prosecution Service made a “early decision” not to prosecute him with impersonating a police officer, the matter wasn’t concluded until December 24.
According to Judge Inman, the investigation into Johnson’s claim unravelled as they combed through surveillance footage of the scene from the time of the event.
She blamed her behaviour on how Sarah Everard’s death affected her. In March of last year, Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens abducted, raped, and killed Sarah.
Mr Brotherton said: ‘The defendant made references throughout the course of her police interview to her concerns over Sarah Everard, how it impacted on her and why she acted the way she had.’
Joshua Purser, mitigating, conceded his client had ‘concocted an incredibly dangerous fiction’.
Mr Purser said: ‘Behind me is a girl disgraced, ashamed, and this morning dumbfounded at the reality of this fantasy she created upon an innocent man.’
He said a psychiatrist had diagnosed Johnson, now 20, as having a ‘borderline personality disorder’ while her home life at the time was ‘far from straightforward’.
Mr Purser told the court his client suffered with anxiety and depression, adding: ‘The route instigation of this whole tale was a panic attack at the wheel in which she heard voices.
‘These allegations arose rather obscenely from voices she heard at the time.
‘She admits to me how stupid she is. The reality is she is not someone so stupid she is beyond rehabilitation.’
The judge acknowledged Johnson’s mental health issues but concluded they had not been the cause of her persisting in her false account for four days.
Judge Inman said: ‘You were keen to portray yourself as a victim. The author of the pre-sentence report recalls you saying you realised what you were saying to the police wasn’t true and was false. It wasn’t a case of you being deluded.
‘Those who commit this type of offence, make big allegations and as a result innocent people are harmed, must expect immediate custodial sentences whatever the mitigation. The offence of perverting the course of public justice undermines the whole of public justice.’
Given Johnson’s age, acceptance of responsibility, and absence of prior convictions, Judge Inman shorten the period of detention.
But he determined that there were no “exceptional circumstances” that would allow the sentence to be suspended.
.