A businessman who tried to persuade a woman to dr
Steven Stanley Dickens, 52, had denied trying to get the woman to drop allegations while he was on remand in prison
op her allegations of rape and assault against him was found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
Steven Stanley Dickens, 52, had denied three such charges in calls to the woman and to a an associate in October 2014 while he was on remand in Altcourse Prison, Liverpool.
He was unanimously acquitted by a jury of the rape and assault charges after a trial in March last year.
Jurors in the current trial at Caernarfon crown court which started on Monday were told the case involved what happened in the weeks and months leading up to that trial.
Neither Dickens nor the woman gave evidence during the current trial.
Prosecutor Elen Owen said the defendant, of Mostyn Avenue, Craig y Don , Llandudno had been “putting huge pressure on the woman to retract her statements” but she continued with her complaint regardless.
Ben Morris, defending Dickens, said the woman had made a retraction statement to drop the charges “under her own free will” but had been “forced” by police to give evidence against him.
He had claimed police had “ignored” a retraction made by the woman
Today, after deliberating for six hours, the jury of six men and six women found Dickens guilty on unanimous verdicts of three counts - of making a series of telephone calls to the woman trying to persuade her to drop the allegations against him and of giving her instructions on how to retract a statement; giving an associate instructions on how to persuade the woman to retract her statement and, making reference to retraction statement made by the woman and asking her if she knew what the sentence would be for the assault allegations she had not retracted.
In a recorded call from Altcourse, played in court, Dickens told the woman: “I’ll tell you something to sway you. I have got all your (designer) bags. I can even tell you where they are. If you go to the solicitor today, I can get out tomorrow.
In a call to an associate, Dickens said: “I’ll be doing 10 to 15 years, tell her, minimum”.
After the verdicts, Mr Morris asked for the sentencing to be adjourned for reports.
Addressing Mr Morris, Mr Recorder Simon Mills said: “I literally know nothing about your client in this case - what his personal circumstances are, his financial circumstances.”
Adjourning the sentencing until a date to be fixed, the judge warned Dickens that he faced “immediate custody.”
The judge said: “You have been found guilty by this jury of three serious charges of perverting the course of justice. You are a man that I know very little about in terms of your life, your business or your employment. It is very likely that I will be imposing an immediate custodial sentence on you.”
The judge said he was going to bail Dickens because there was “no evidence” he posed any risk on condition he co-operated with the probation service for a pre-sentence report
see-http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/llandudno-businessman-steven-dickens-who-11549310
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