A woman who, as a teenager, sexually abused a young girl, has finally been brought to justice, a quarter of a century after the offences were committed.

Marri Dugdale, now 41, was convicted despite having made false allegations against her accuser to try to blacken her character prior to the trial.

Dugdale was said to have carried out the abuse of the girl, using threats and playing on her fear of the dark, to enable her to be able to repeat the acts and prevent the victim from reporting what took place.

But Durham Crown Court heard that the girl did report it, at the time, and was interviewed by the police, during which she made allegations about Dugdale’s conduct.

Read more: County Durham man convicted of child rapes sentenced as 'offender of concern'

The court was told that the victim’s mother, “with the best of intentions”, did not want her daughter to be medically examined or to attend court, and the police were left with no option but not to proceed with the case at the time.

Following the passage of time and, as an adult, the victim contacted the police in 2020 and repeated the account given as a child.

Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, said she told police she was sexually abused by Dugdale, and, “made to do it to her”.

Dugdale, of Hawthorn Road, Spennymoor, was charged with two counts of indecent assault and three of indecency with a child, all of which she denied at a plea hearing last November.

The case was adjourned for a trial due to start at the court on April 25, this year.

But weeks before it was due to begin Dugdale was back before the court accused of doing an act tending or intending to pervert the course of justice.

That related to her making a false allegation to police in October last year about her alleged victim in the indecent assault case, saying she had seen her mistreating a child.

Police spoke to the woman about the allegation and she was shocked and denied it, but officers investigating concluded it was made maliciously.

Dugdale’s voice was recognised in making the report and, despite her maintaining her story initially, she admitted the charge of perverting the course of justice at the court on April 6, less than three weeks before her trial on the indecency charges.

At the outcome of the trial, on May 3, Dugdale was found guilty on one charge each of indecent assault and indecency with a child and acquitted of the other three counts.

On both counts on which she was convicted, the offences were said to have happened on “at least” two occasions.

Read more: Sex offender went to Ireland for funeral rather than Durham Crown Court for trial

Dugdale appeared at the court for Wednesday's (November 2) sentencing hearing by video link from Low Newton Prison, near Durham, where she has been on remand since her conviction.

Sarah Proctor, representing Dugdale, said at the time of the original offences, which she still denies, the defendant was young and immature herself.

Relating to the malicious allegation made to police about the abuse victim, Miss Proctor described it as, “a deeply stupid and desperate act”, on the defendant’s behalf.

“It was an unsophisticated and ludicrous attempt to thwart the trial, made out of desperation.

“There were, thankfully, no real consequences.

“Police did not believe the allegations and quickly, and easily identified the defendant as the culprit.”

Miss Proctor said other than the original offences and the attempt to pervert the course of justice: “She has lived a good life, working hard and bringing up her family.”

But she added that Dugdale, who worked as a carer, can no longer work in the care sector due to the conviction.

Judge Ray Singh, who presided over the trial in Durham, but who is now sitting at Leeds Crown Court, told Dugdale she, “exercised her power” as a 15-year-old at the time over her much younger victim, using “threat tactics” to abuse the girl.

The judge said her actions had, “a devastating impact” on the victim, who now feels robbed of her childhood, having had her innocence taken away by the defendant.

He said it led the victim into a "downward spiral" in her later life, of alcohol abuse, mental health issues and panic attacks, plus incidents of self-harm.

Imposing a four-year prison sentence on Dugdale, he said that was to reflect the fact she was only 15 at the time of the indecency offences, adding that it would have been a much higher jail term had she been an adult when they were committed.

But the total sentence included six months for the more recent bid to pervert the course of justice.

Dugdale will be subject to indefinite registration as a sex offender and a lifetime restraining order, forbidding her from trying to contact or approach the victim.

Read next:

County Durham pensioner jailed for breaching Sexual Harm Prevention Order

St Helen Auckland father and daughter admit conspiring to pervert the course of justice

County Durham offender on suspended sentence reaches 'the end of the line'

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