Woman jailed for waging twisted campaign against girl of 6

A WOMAN who repeatedly damaged and stole a friend's property so that a six-year-old child would be blamed was jailed for three years yesterday in a case which a judge said "almost defies belief".

Mother-of-two Kathryn Skinner undertook an 18-month campaign of harassment against the family which resulted in their daughter being referred to the Children's Mental Health Service for therapy.

Skinner began by stealing 20 from the girl's mother in February 2003 - and then putting it in the child's room. When the young girl found it, there was suspicion she had taken the money.

For the next 18 months Skinner, 40, of Exeter, Devon, caused the girl to become the subject of her parents' mistrust and punishment, the court heard.

Every set of curtains in the girl's house was damaged, as well as over 100 items of clothing. "All the while" the girl was being blamed, the court heard.

The girl's mother suffered panic attacks and was given drugs for depression, and she began locking potentially dangerous items in her bedroom.

The girl was punished again after dangerous tablets were found in the schoolbag of Skinner's son, with the empty packets discovered in the girl's bin. Her father's passport was also slashed so that he could not go on holiday. Electrical equipment went missing - and the girl was sent to her room for nine days.

She was accused of stealing money from Skinner's daughter, and medication was even put in drinks at parties in the girl's house.

The judge told Skinner: "All the while you continued to pretend you were the concerned friend offering help to two desperate parents. You watched them suffer."

The judge said the girl "suffers from a host of problems for which you were entirely responsible, and from which she may never recover".

After the hearing, the girl's weeping mother said: "Justice has been done."