Cookstown woman charged with making false report over Jim Wells' same-sex comments controversy

Dorothy Elaine Dawn Gardner, 48, faces one charge of making a false report to police in relation to a pre-election hustings event in Downpatrick last year.

The case against Gardner, from Killycanavan Rd, Dungannon, was adjourned for four weeks at a brief hearing at Downpatrick Magistrates’ Court last Thursday, following a defence request for additional time for the potential compilation of medical reports.

Democratic Unionist Mr Wells faced intense criticism after a video clip from the husting event emerged in which he made remarks referencing both same-sex couples and child abuse.

Democratic Unionist Jim Wells arrives at Downpatrick Court, where the case against Dorothy Elaine Dawn Gardner, who was accused of wasting police time in connection with a controversy around former the Stormont health minister, was adjourned.

He was accused of suggesting that children brought up by same-sex couples were at more risk of abuse.

While the minister apologised, he later insisted his comments had been taken out of context.

Days after the hustings in Downpatrick, Mr Wells was involved in a doorstep confrontation with a same-sex couple about his remarks while out canvassing.

It was an altercation that ultimately forced his resignation.

Prosecutors examined Mr Wells’s comments at the hustings and decided not to take action against him.

They took the decision after reviewing the video clip and a fuller transcript of the Downpatrick event.

It is understood prosecutors were satisfied that in exchanges not captured in the video clip, Mr Wells made clear he was arguing that children were more at risk of abuse in “unstable” relationships, be they heterosexual or same sex.