'MONSTER' jailed after stabbing herself twice to frame a man and falsely accusing him of raping a child

Published 30 October 2026, 17:31

• Courtney Clapham, 23, saw her innocent victim arrested and charged with grievous bodily harm, Grimsby Crown Court heard.
• Three years of lies, fake witnesses and social media smears earned her three years and nine months behind bars.
• 'She made me out to be a monster, when all along, she was one,' the wrongly accused man said.

A woman who stabbed herself twice and blamed an innocent man — while also falsely accusing him of raping a child — has been jailed for three years and nine months.

Courtney Clapham, 23, of Wallis Road in Louth, North Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty to three counts of perverting the course of justice at Grimsby Crown Court on 30 October 2026.

She was also handed a ten-year restraining order.

Over three years, Clapham placed repeated anonymous calls to Humberside Police's Force Control Room using false names, alleging that the man had committed sexual assault against her and had raped a child.

On two separate occasions she stabbed herself in the leg and reported him as the attacker, resulting in his arrest and a grievous bodily harm charge against him, according to the Humberside Police report.

Detective Sergeant Eve Tansley, who led the investigation from Humberside Police's Domestic Abuse and Safeguarding Investigation Team, described Clapham as "a devious woman who fabricated a web of evil lies in an attempt to manipulate the system and see the man suffer."

Clapham compounded her false reports by spreading the allegations across social media, portraying the man as a violent abuser she was terrified of.

She also recruited false witnesses to back up her account after stabbing herself.

DS Tansley said Clapham "tried to tell her twisted story to anyone who would listen."

Investigators gathered enough evidence to prove the man could not have committed the alleged offences, which prompted a counter-investigation into Clapham.

DS Tansley said the evidence stacked up to the point where Clapham "had no other choice but to plead guilty to the offences."

DS Tansley praised the victim's courage, noting he attended court on numerous occasions and worked alongside police throughout.

"The sheer strength and bravery he has shown cannot be underestimated," she said, crediting him and his family with making the guilty plea possible.

In a statement after sentencing, the man said Clapham "nearly accomplished ruining my life" and that he was still trying to piece it together.

"She plastered all of these allegations over social media too, and I am still having to pick up the pieces of myself," he said.

"I never hurt or abused her, but she made me out to be a monster, when all along, she was one."

He described times during the lengthy proceedings when he wanted to walk away, but said he persevered.

"Now she has finally pleaded guilty... I feel like a weight has been lifted and the dark cloud that was following me has finally gone," he said.

DS Tansley warned that false allegations risk deterring genuine victims from coming forward, and said: "I want to send a clear message that blatantly lying and making such horrific and damaging allegations has consequences."

She added that domestic abuse is not discriminatory and that men who are victims must also be given a voice.

The victim urged anyone who recognised his story to come forward, saying: "Knowing that I have played a part in ensuring the truth is out there, is the first step in starting to rebuild my life."