Woman jailed after lying while suing former bosses
PA MediaA saleswoman who faked a doctor's note about cancer treatment and invented evidence of sexual assaults in London while suing her former employers has been jailed.
Louise Gallagher, 50, produced false evidence when she sued distribution giant Bunzl for sex discrimination and mounted a separate unfair dismissal claim against health product supplier Essity.
Wood Green Crown Court heard that Gallagher, of of Marlborough, Wiltshire, lied directly to a judge and put forward a fictional eyewitness to the police.
On Friday, Judge Timothy Godfrey sentenced her to four years and eight months in prison after she admitted three counts of perverting the course of justice.
"Your conduct was sophisticated and planned, including lying to a tribunal judge on oath," the judge said.
The court heard Gallagher was already a convicted fraudster, with convictions from 2015 for stealing £4,500 from her employers before submitting doctored bank statements and a bogus letter from HMRC to try to conceal the missing money.
She was also convicted in 2014 of buying £1,822 of equestrian equipment using bank details stolen from a woman's handbag during an event.
The court heard on Friday that Gallagher maintained that the sexual assault and harassment allegations she made in her employment tribunal claims were genuine, and said she produced the fake evidence in her "desperation to be believed".
The Crown Prosecution Service dropped further charges of perverting the course of justice that alleged Gallagher had invented the sexual assault allegations, and told the court it did not consider the evidence strong enough to meet the criminal test for pursuing the case.
The two companies Bunzl and Essity told the court on Friday that they had spent tens of thousands of pounds defending Gallagher's claims and devoted significant resources to investigating her bogus evidence.
At her sentencing hearing, Gallagher produced a character reference from her manager at cleaning company Samsic UK, calling her a "valued and trusted employee".
Gallagher will serve one-third of her prison term, under the Sentencing Act 2026.
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