07-05-2025
Woman faces jail after admitting she lied to police that she had been sexually assaulted
A woman who lied about being sexually assaulted has been warned she is facing a prison sentence over the fake claims.
Elizabeth Bates admitted perverting the course of justice on August 26, 2022 with the particulars of the offence disclosing she did so by 'making false statements to police alleging sexual assault'.
It came a year after she appeared on This Morning for a different reason, when she told how her six-year-old son had alerted an Amazon driver to help save her life.
Bates, from Newtownards, Co Down, had at an earlier hearing admitted two further similar charges in that on August 24 and 30, 2022, she 'made a statement to police containing false allegations'.
At Downpatrick Crown Court, defence KC Richard McConkey asked for the 26-year-old to be re-arraigned on the second count and accordingly, she admitted the perverting the course of justice charge.
Mr McConkey told the court that in addition to a pre-sentence report from the Probation Board, he will also be directing a medical report.
Adjourning the case to June 20 and freeing Bates on bail, Judge Geoffrey Miller KC told Bates: 'Offences of this nature are very serious because it impacts on the administration of justice.'
He added that such fake accusations also 'impact on the livelihoods and wellbeing and reputation of a person against whom an allegation is made,' before warning her that 'the custody threshold is inevitably crossed'.
The mother-of-three made headline news last July after her quick-thinking six-year-old son was captured on video asking an Amazon delivery driver for help after she collapsed
Bates, from Newtownards, Co Down, had at an earlier hearing admitted two further similar charges in that on August 24 and 30, 2022, she 'made a statement to police containing false allegations'
Judge Miller warned that the question of whether that jail term would be suspended or immediate, or whether there would be an alternative sentence, would hinge on the contents of the various reports, so it would be in her best interests to co-operate.
The mother-of-three made headline news last July - going by the name Liz or Elizabeth Crooks at the time - after her quick-thinking six-year-old son was captured on video asking an Amazon delivery driver for help after she collapsed.
Footage from her home's ring doorbell went viral with more than 20 million views worldwide after it captured the little boy accepting a parcel from a delivery driver and asking him 'to come and help his mummy'.
The boy takes the parcel from the driver before asking him: 'Can you help my mummy? She's fainted.' And after asking if his mummy is unwell, the driver then follows the six-year-old into the home and calls for an ambulance.
It led to her and her son featuring across the national media, including an appearance on This Morning where she was interviewed by Dermot O'Leary and Rochelle Humes.
