Woman jailed for trying to frame ex for stalking

A LINCOLN wedding planner was jailed for 28 months after sending herself threatening letters in a bid to frame her exhusband for stalking.

Emma Heys (pictured), 42, of Azalea Road, was convicted of three counts of perverting the course of justice when she appeared at Lincoln Crown Court.

The case followed a protracted and complex investigation named Operation Franklin, which uncovered that Heys had attended Lincoln County Court to obtain a nonmolestation order against her ex-husband.

She supplied fabricated evidence which was uncontested and an interim non-molestation order was granted banning her exhusband from entering Lincolnshire and contacting her. She had presented a picture of her ex-husband, Christopher Heys, as being abusive and violent and that she was at risk from his alleged harassment and stalking behaviour.

Three days after the order was issued Heys made the first of her 19 allegations and 15 false statements - she claimed she had woken on Valentine’s Day to find dead flowers with heads cut off and a card with a note saying ‘BITCH’.

The allegations continued - that Heys was receiving notes and letters either that were threatening in nature and implied that the sender was watching her every movement.

After a search at Heys’ home envelopes were found - one had the same Christmas-themed Wallace and Grommit stamp seen on several of the envelopes handed to police. She was interviewed but protested her innocence and was released under investigation. Due to complexity of the investigation, it took more than two years to piece together the evidence. Delays were also caused by the pandemic. Hundreds of hours of CCTV footage were reviewed and there were approximately 100,000 pages of phone downloads. Forensic testing found DNA under the envelope seal from the defendant.

Christopher Heys was arrested three times, spent more than 30 hours in police custody and was interviewed on at least two occasions. Ultimately the receipts he had collated of his movements helped police disprove his involvement.

Even after being arrested Heys made further allegations of breaches of the non-molestation order by her ex-husband, but eventually pleaded guilty at a Lincoln Crown Court hearing, where a judge said Heys had acted out of malice. Investigating officer, DC Andrew Woodcock, said: “It is difficult to explain how much work has gone into this case or indeed the total cost of the investigation. Cases of this level and extent of offending are fortunately rare.

“Heys’ ex-husband was unfortunately arrested several times and has been significantly affected by what happened and continues to be to this day.”