North Lincolnshire ​woman jailed for lies of domestic abuse

A 24-year-old woman who fabricated a series of assaults and abuse committed by her ex-partner against her has been sentenced to three years and nine months for perverting the course of justice.

Kirsty Barr, of Barton, North Lincolnshire, appeared at Hull Crown Court yesterday (Thursday, 20 October) having pleaded guilty at an earlier court hearing of framing Ryan Kerrison for incidents she made up.

Barr claimed Mr Kerrison had repeatedly harassed her and assaulted her, including threatening her with a gun and cutting her with a knife, which resulted in a full police firearms response and deployment.

On 6 June 2018, Barr reported to police Mr Kerrison was at her property, throwing stones at her window and harassing her by sending her messages.

This resulted in officers arresting him for a breach of a restraining order that was in place.

Due to the alleged breach he was detained on remand for almost two months before being released by the courts. Mr Kerrison was found guilty of the offence by Magistrates but this conviction was later quashed.

On 1 December 2018, Barr called 999 hysterically claiming Mr Kerrison had chased her up the stairs and assaulted her, before cutting her with a knife and throwing her to the bottom of the stairs, where he then put a gun to her head.

Due to the violent nature of the allegation, a full armed police response was deployed and Mr Kerrison was further arrested.

Evidence was collated and witness statements obtained that proved Mr Kerrison could not have committed any offences as suggested, which prompted an investigation into whether Kirsty Barr had attempted to pervert the course of justice.

Barr was charged in April this year following an extensive investigation, appeals and consultations with the Crown Prosecution Service to move forward and progress the case to court.

Divisional Commander, Chief Superintendent Christine Wilson: said: “Ryan Kerrison has been through the most excruciating and harrowing ordeal, being accused and depicted as a monster by a woman who had her own devious and malicious agenda to try and ruin his life.

“Ryan has had to watch everything he had vanish in the blink of an eye, being incarcerated for crimes he didn’t commit and unable to be with his daughter, all because his ex-partner decided she would manipulate the system to see Ryan suffer.

“Barr told her fabricated story to anyone who would listen, portraying Ryan to the whole country through national and social media as a violent man she was terrified of, when in reality, Ryan is the one who was suffering a tirade of abuse from the vicious and false allegations Barr made against him.

“Whilst Ryan can never regain the last four years, I hope there is some comfort for him and his family knowing Barr has now been held accountable for her actions.

“Whilst men are stereotypically the perpetrators of domestic abuse against girls and women, we must ensure in policing we do see the less visible side of these horrific crimes where men are also victims, and always investigate thoroughly and effectively for anyone who is a victim of abuse by a partner.

“Allegations of this nature when falsely made, can have a detrimental impact on genuine victims coming forward, and I want to offer my assurance to anyone who is suffering from this type of crime, that we will always take any report made seriously and treat it with the utmost priority, and importantly, you will be treated sensitively and with confidentiality and we will fully support you to ensure those responsible are brought to justice.”