Miscellaneous

Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself?

Janet Magee, a Methodist minister in the UK, is currently on trial for falsely claiming to be the victim of harassment and threatening phone calls. According to the Daily Mail, the vicar complained of harassing mail and phone calls for several years; police were never able to follow up her claims, and ended up becoming suspicious of her. They then surreptitiously installed a closed-circuit TV in her home:

In August 2007 when she returned from an exchange visit to the United States the minister claimed to have received a hand-delivered letter containing pieces of dog dirt. The CCTV footage was checked by officers but nobody was found making a suspicious delivery. The following month she claimed she received a hand-delivered note accompanied by a dead hedgehog. The note read: "Dead like you will be soon. I told you the police could never catch me."

The vicar was arrested and her home searched. An envelope was found containing newspaper cuttings and letters removed from them had been sent with the hedgehog, it was alleged. She said she could give no explanation when confronted with the evidence herself and told officers:'If I was you I would be thinking she has done it herself.'

In a stunning display of apparent delusion, the Rev. later elaborated on her "not guilty" plea: "Whoever set me up has done it brilliantly," Magee said. "I take my hat off to them."

Full post as published by Quiz Law on October 14, 2008 (boomark / email).