The Quality Of Mercy Is Strained Here, All Right…

Denzil Charleston, 47, and 19-year- old Jenny Escudero romped on the Uni-link vehicle while it was parked in a Southampton bus station.

The pair had begun an affair in August 2007 when the youngster was 17. But their illicit relationship turned sour when the married driver told his teenage mistress that he was planning to leave Southampton for a new life in the Channel Islands with his wife and children.

A day after breaking the news to Escudero, Mr Charleston was arrested after she told police that he had raped her on the bus, which is run by Bluestar.

Unfortunately for this lying little madam, the bus had eyes…

However, when police questioned Mr Charleston about the allegations, he told them that she had given full consent to their double-decker sexual encounter and that it would have been filmed by the vehicle’s CCTV cameras, which were still running at the time.

After officers checked the explicit footage they began to question Escudero’s story. Mr Charleston was never charged over the allegation.

His DNA was taken, however, and now resides on a database somewhere…

Escudero, of Lilac Road, Southampton, later admitted lying to police about the rape claim and pleaded guilty at Southampton Crown Court to attempting to pervert the course of justice.

And the law dealt with her as she deserved, did it?

Judge Peter Ralls QC said that when he first looked at the case he believed that it would end only in a “substantial prison sentence” as such a serious offence can undermine genuine rape cases.

Indeed.

So, did he impose one?

However, after seeing a threatening letter allegedly sent to her by Mr Charleston’s daughter, he told the court it was clear that there was some background to her claims of harassment and that she may have felt justified in making her fake rape accusation as a “genuine cry for help”.

So, let me see if I’ve got this right; on the basis of a letter that he had no evidence actually came from the source claimed, he decided that there was a case for leniency?

Well, I can understand that, after all, it’s not like she would lie about that sort of thi…

Oh. Right.

He also said that the evidence quickly cleared Mr Charleston of the allegations.

Eh..?

That’s a new legal standard, is it? ‘Sorry we arrested you on the basis of the mere word of someone you were having an illicit affair with, but hey! once we saw the tape, we sorted it all out, didn’t we? Everything worked out for the best, right?’

He told the court that Escudero had been very young and had “emotional difficulties” when she became involved with Mr Charleston and that the court needed to show an “element of mercy” .

It did? Why?

Escudero was sentenced to 50 weeks, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work.

Well, that showed her.