Wrongly accused mum overdosed
ASINGLE mum locked up after being falsely accused of trying to kill a baby died of an overdose after being told she would have to give evidence against her accusers in court.
Jayne Pearce, 23, had been wrongly locked up for three months charged with attempted murder after friends falsely claimed to police she had tried to smother the threemonth-old child – and then confessed on Facebook.
She was eventually cleared of wrongdoing, but Miss Pearce was badly affected by her spell in jail and sought counselling in a bid to ‘block out the memories.’
Tragedy struck when police told her she would be reliving her ordeal in the witness box after officers charged two women with perverting justice.
The warehouse worker – who had a four year old son – posted a message on Facebook saying: “Just when I think everything is all over with it all gets dragged back up, oh well justice has to be done. At least that puts my name in the clear and people can stop with their lies.”
Just two days before she was due to give evidence, Miss Pearce was found dead in her flat in Royton after ingesting a fatal combination of vodka, cocaine and the antidepressant drug fluoxetine.
It then emerged the two women, Leonie Hampson-Ogden, 23, and 21-year-old Shauna Stanway were intending to plead guilty and Miss Pearce would not have been required to give evidence after all.
Both women, from Oldham, were investigated over whether their callous behaviour warranted more serious charges, but no further action was taken.
An inquest heard Miss Pearce’s ordeal began on January 28, 2015, when she was arrested and charged following malicious phone calls to police falsely claiming she had been at a friend’s house when she went in an upstairs room and tried to suffocate the child. One of her accusers also hacked into Miss Pearce’s Facebook account where she planted a false confession.
Despite her protests of innocence and no evidence of the baby being injured, Miss Pearce was remanded to Styal women’s prison in Cheshire to await trial until police got a call confessing the allegations were false.
Police discovered Miss Pearce had been using a phone belonging to one of the women to log onto her Facebook page – then inadvertently left her account open on the device.
On April 14, 2015, Miss Pearce was freed and charges dropped and Hampson-Ogden and Stanway were charged and told to face trial on July 11, 2016. Miss Pearce had agreed to give evidence on July 12.
Her father, Geoffrey Pearce, told the Heywood hearing: “Jayne had wanted to get justice. She’d been remanded into custody following completely false allegations which probably could and would end up in a long custodial sentence. She should never have been put in there.’’
Det Insp David Loughlin said: “Jayne had said she would be at court to give evidence.
“There was no suggestion she was frightened of going to court and facing these people. In fact, when they were charged she wanted to go to the press to clear her name but was advised against it.
“I don’t believe she intended to take her own life.”
Recording a conclusion of misadventure, coroner Lisa Hashmi said she believed Miss Pearce had not intended to kill herself.
Hampson-Ogden and Stanway are due to be sentenced next month.