by A mother-of-two has framed an innocent woman after she was caught driving a pick-up truck without insurance.
Juliann Quilligan, 28, falsely gave her name as Rebecca Williams after police stopped her Mitsubishi L200 while towing a trailer along the M62 motorway. She then remained silent as the victim was given eight penalty points on her license without her knowledge.
Ms Williams, 34, only discovered she had been wrongly convicted when she tried to renew insurance on her own car. She had to return to court and face trial before the uninsured conviction was dismissed after an eight-month clerkship.
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The victim also received several parking tickets and lost job opportunities because he did not have a clean license.
Police tracked down Quilligan after studying CCTV footage of the moment she was stopped. It emerged that she knew Ms Williams through an ex-boyfriend and that the two had socialized together before.
When questioned, Quilligan said she was “panic” because she was “afraid” to deal with police because of mental health issues. Quilligan walked free from court last week after telling a judge she was pregnant with her third child, due in September.
At Chester Crown Court, she was given a nine-month prison term, suspended for 18 months, after pleading guilty to perverting the public course of justice.
The scam was foiled when Quilligan, who moved to the UK to escape her traveling companions in Galway, Ireland, was stopped when she drove her pick-up truck and trailer along the M62 westbound carriageway near Park Apollo in Warrington on 5 January 2022. .
Prosecutor Shannon Stewart told the court: “The driver identified herself as Rebecca Williams and checks showed she was not insured to drive the vehicle.
“In May 2022, Rebecca Williams contacted an insurance company about getting insurance and was told she had a marker on her license for driving without insurance and other driving offences.
“Miss Williams was not aware of any motoring offenses so she contacted the DVLA and was informed that she had been convicted at Chester Magistrates’ Court of not having any insurance. Ms Williams then contacted the police as she believed someone had fraudulently given her details.”
When shown footage of the incident, the court heard Ms Williams was able to identify Quilligan.
“The defendant was best friends with Ms Williams’ ex-partner so they would socialize regularly,” Ms Stewart explained. “Ms Williams never had access to or ownership of the vehicle.
“As a result of this incident, Ms Williams states that she has received parking tickets and log book incidents that have nothing to do with her and that she has been refused a job due to needing a clean licence.
”The offense resulted in serious consequences for an innocent party. Ms Williams was given a conviction and penalty points which affected her getting insurance and lost opportunities as a result as she struggled to find a job.”
After being arrested on November 1 last year, Quilligan, de Kingscote Gardensof Skelmersdale, West Lancashire, denied she was the person in the CCTV images.
Mitigating, her barrister Gareth Roberts said: “She is ashamed and embarrassed by the way she acted. She would like to apologize to me for any distress and inconvenience she has caused Ms Williams, who she recognizes is an innocent woman who did not deserve this.
“For this woman, the prospect of going into custody is terrifying. She is a mother of small children and is pregnant with her third child.”
Mr Roberts argued that Quilligan’s actions had not been “controlled or carefully considered or pre-planned”.
He added: “It was a very foolish decision to expect her to be questioned by the police, which she is not familiar with. Given her mental health issues, she couldn’t deal with it either.
“She was a traveler and in 2019, she had a nervous breakdown. Part of that nervous breakdown was related to her being estranged from the community and eventually, that left her, she went away and basically lived alone with two children aged six and two. age.
“This was extremely difficult for her. What she has managed to do is provide stability for herself and her children as well. One thing that worried her was that her children were not getting an education, which is often the culture in which she was raised and she wanted better for her children. They both go to school now.
“She is expecting her baby in September. She just wants to put this behind her and continue to be a good mother to her children.”
Sentencing Quilligan last Tuesday (July 16), Recorder Judge Anthony O’Donohoe ordered her to complete 20 days of rehabilitation activity with the probation service.
He described Quilligan’s actions as “extremely serious”, telling her: “When I first read about this case I was very concerned about it. I want you to know that you have come within a hair’s breadth of not leaving the court at those doors but at those doors to the cells behind you.
“I take into account that you look after two young children, aged six and two, and you are expecting your third child in September.
”I assume you are motivated not to put yourself in this position again where you could be separated from your children for a long period of time. We don’t want to see you again.”
Court records show that Rebecca Williams, 32, of Warrington, was convicted of driving a Mitsubishi without insurance and towing a trailer without a secondary coupling device on the M62.
She was listed for trial after she later made a statutory declaration at Warrington Magistrates’ Court that she was not the driver. The charges were dismissed a month later and Ms Williams was found not guilty of the offences.
