Harrogate man jailed for ‘appalling’ lies and falsified police reports

A man who waged a “sophisticated and twisted campaign of lies” against another man, including allegations of sexual crimes, has been sentenced to prison.

Victor Wild, 32, of Mayfield Road, Harrogate, spread misinformation about a Scarborough man on social media and via email and made false statements to police.

North Yorkshire Police said Wild initially pleaded not guilty to perverting the course of justice at York Crown Court, but changed his plea to guilty.

He was sentenced to three years and four months in prison on Friday.

Wild spread “appalling allegations” using fictitious names of people who claimed to have witnessed serious sex crimes committed by the victim and reported them to police, a North Yorkshire Police spokesman said.

He also tried to persuade newspapers to print his made-up stories.

Officials said Wild posed as a journalist investigating the allegations and contacted police asking for comment on why the victim and a second man were not in jail.

Det Insp Tim Bentley, of Scarborough CID, said: “Wild's sophisticated and distorted campaign of lies has caused the victim extreme stress and has had a serious impact on his mental health, his daily life and that of those around him.”

“Wild has also wasted many hours of police time and resources, resulting in significant stress on police officers and staff whose time has been diverted from actual crime reporting.

“I am pleased that he will be locked up for a significant period of time and exposed as the dangerous liar that he is.”

A police spokesman said Wild was also charged with intentionally strangling a second victim, but was found not guilty of that offense.

The court dropped another allegation of controlling and coercive behavior toward the second victim.

Restraining orders were issued against Wild prohibiting him from contacting the victims in person or online.

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