A WOMAN perverted justice by giving her best friend’s ex-girlfriend’s name to police when stopped.

Julliann Quilligan, who grew up a member of the travelling community, was pulled over by police in a 2020-plate Mitsubishi car in Warrington.

This came after officers discovered she was driving without insurance at Apollo Park in Gemini on January 5, 2022.

The 28-year-old gave officers the name of someone else, and she was rumbled when the woman she impersonated tried to herself buy car insurance.

The victim was told there was marker on her licence for driving uninsured, including six penalty points.

The complainant contacted the DVLA and police to report the fraudulent use of her name, swearing before Warrington Magistrates’ Court in January last year that it was not her who had be stopped.

She was shown footage of the initial incident and the woman who had claimed to be her, and she was able to state it was Quilligan, her ex’s best friend, who she often used to socialise with.

Quilligan was arrested on November 1, 2023, when the officer who pulled her over in Warrington in January 2022 was able to identify her.

She still denied it was her, claimed she was being ‘blamed for misinformation’, then answered no comment for the rest of the interview.

The defendant was charged with perverting the court of justice regardless and appeared at Chester Crown Court for sentence.

Prosecuting, Shannon Stewart said: “As a result of this incident, the woman in question has received parking tickets, incidents of log books that have nothing to do with her, and has been refused jobs due to needing a clean licence.”

Defending, Gareth Roberts told the court that Quilligan, of Kingscote Gardens in Skelmersdale, was ‘properly embarrassed and ashamed for the pain and inconvenience she caused’ following her ‘extremely foolhardy and impetuous decision.’

He went on to explain Quilligan had suffered a nervous breakdown in 2019 which led to ‘estrangement from the tight-knit travelling community’, but despite this, she is ‘doing tremendously well’ raising her two young children, and is expecting a third in September.

He added: “The prospect of prison is itself terrifying for my client, as is the fact she has put herself in a position where there is a strong chance she could be taken away from her children for some time.

“However, while the case clearly crosses the custody threshold, in the circumstances, I suggest the court can realistically and properly consider suspending the prison sentence which seems inevitable.”

Passing sentence, recorder Francis O’Donohoe said: “Cases like this strike at the very heart of the system of justice we operate in this country, aggravated by the fact a real person suffered by your actions.

“However, I have taken into account your genuine remorse and the fact you have two young children to care for, and another due in September.

“Make no mistake – you have come within a hair’s breadth of leaving that dock through the back door today.”

Recorder O’Donohoe sentenced Quilligan, who has no previous convictions, to nine months in prison, suspended for 18 months.

He added: “We don’t want to see you here again.”