Telford man found guilty of perjury plot
A man has been found guilty of being involved in a plot to receive money so a witness would to lie on oath in the trial of a Wellington man who was accused of sexual assault.
The 44-year-old lorry driver, who has not been identified for legal reasons, was convicted of conspiring to pervert the course of justice after a two-day trial.
At Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday Judge Robin Onions adjourned sentence for reports and the defendant was allowed bail.
Two other people, a young woman who was the witness in the sex abuse case, and a 22-year-old man, who cannot be identified, both pleaded guilty to being part of the conspiracy at an earlier hearing.
All three defendants, who are from the Telford area, will be sentenced in November on a date to be arranged.
During the two-day trial the jury heard that the 44-year-old man and the younger man were said to have "assisted, helped and encouraged" the woman to commit perjury.
The 19-year-old woman was a vital witness in the trial of Noshad Hussain in October last year which was part of Operation Chalice, a West Mercia police inquiry into the sexual exploitation and trafficking of young girls in the Telford area.
The two men and the woman were said to have conspired together, and with others unknown, to change her evidence in Noshad Hussain's trial with intent to pervert the course of justice.
Mr Darron Whitehead, prosecuting, said the case of 22-year-old Noshad Hussain was the third of a series of trials as a result of the police investigation in which he was accused of having under age sex with a schoolgirl in his car four years ago.
He said the 19-year-old defendant made statements to police in 2009 and 2010 providing eyewitness support of the alleged teenage victim in Noshad Hussain's case.
