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Woman jailed for recording victim at Wolverhampton Crown Court rape trial

A mother-of-two who recorded her rapist partner's victim giving evidence at Wolverhampton Crown Court has been jailed.

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Patrice Brown was sitting in the public gallery when she made the recording of the 'vulnerable' girl speaking.

She was there in support of Dwayne Kesto during his trial, which ended with him being jailed for 16 years for historic rapes of two young girls.

Brown is now also behind bars after Judge James Burbidge said her actions had threatened to 'undermine' the court system.

At the city's crown court on Friday, he said: "A message must go out to the public that this cannot happen,"

The court heard the 28-year-old student had held her iPhone beneath her leg and made the 12-minute recording as the witness was giving evidence in July last year.

While what was said was recorded, the witness was not filmed directly, Judge Burbidge said.

Mr Tom Kenning, defending, added there was no evidence that the recording had been passed on to anyone else.

But Judge Burbidge said her actions were so serious he could only hand down a custodial sentence.

Brown, from Birmingham, protested as she was given a three-month sentence and said she harboured 'no animosity towards the victims.'

Judge Burbidge told her: "The court's concern must be to protect vulnerable witnesses.

"If people come to court prepared to give evidence, whether they are vulnerable or not, knew what they were saying was being recorded by members of the perpetrator's family it would undermine the court system and system of justice, in my judgement.

"A vulnerable witness is in a difficult position. If the witness knew someone was recording her evidence it would cause even greater harm."

Brown did not go quietly and said to the judge: "I haven't made any arrangements for the care of my kids."

Judge Burbidge replied he had kept the sentence 'as short as reasonably possible' and ordered her taken down.

Mr Kenning said: "There doesn't seem to be any evidence this piece of footage was sent to anyone else.

"It seems to have been pretty pointless and extremely foolish thing for her to have done.

"To put it into context, she was under stress given her personal circumstances and who was standing trial at that time.

"There was no evidence the material was used by anyone else."

Judge Kristina Montgomery QC - who covered the original case - ordered a police investigation after being tipped off about the recording.

Officers seized the phone and discovered the video.

Brown was also keeping Kesto's mother informed of proceedings through WhatsApp, the court heard.

The 28-year-old Aston University student has claimed that her device had malfunctioned after she dropped it in a toilet.

She was convicted of contempt of court in December after a judge found 'too many coincidences' in her story.

The Contempt of Court Act bans making a recording in court without permission while recording devices are barred from courtrooms.

Kesto, 40, from Birmingham, was jailed after being found guilty of the rapes following the trial.

The court directed Brown's full address should not be reported.

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