An “evil” north-east nurse who falsely accused her grandfather of rape so she could get her hands on his inheritance has been jailed.
Natalie Mortimer, 25, wasted 175 hours of police time, at a cost to taxpayers of more than £3,000, when she lied to officers and told them Gordon Ritchie had repeatedly raped her as a child.
After a thorough police investigation, which led to Mr Ritchie having to spend time in a cell, Mortimer eventually admitted wasting police time by fabricating the sex-attack claims.
And when her mother asked her why she had made the accusations, she said she wanted her grandad to go to prison so she could get her hands on his money.
Yesterday Mortimer was branded “evil” by a sheriff.
Mortimer showed no remorse as she calmly left the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in cuffs, smiling at her friends in the public gallery, ready to start her 22-month sentence.
When Mr Ritchie, who used to be a foster carer, was first contacted by police he was on holiday with Mortimer’s 15-year-old half-sister. He had to cut short his holiday and was asked not to have any contact with children under 16 years old.
During the allegations, previous foster children were also questioned and inquiries had to be made with social services and the health service, the court heard.
Over the course of many months, Mortimer spoke to numerous detectives, calling Mr Ritchie her abuser and a paedophile.
The court heard officers had been made aware she had lied only after Mortimer’s mother, Susan Simpson, began to doubt her story.
Mortimer, of 20a Albyn Grove, Aberdeen, then admitted she had fabricated the whole story for financial reasons and Mrs Simpson called the police.
Representing the former Aberdeen Royal Infirmary staff nurse, solicitor Lynne Freeland said her client was aware she had “torn lives apart” with her greedy, selfish and cruel actions.
Sentencing her, Sheriff Graham Buchanan said: “False accusations of rape and other sex offences are very serious because they put doubts in the minds of jurors in genuine cases and they subject innocent people such as Mr Ritchie to a terrifying ordeal of suspicion and investigation by police.
“What you did to Mr Ritchie was truly evil and there is only one appropriate sentence for this behaviour and that is imprisonment.”