A JURY is set to retire and consider whether an accused woman had a sexual relationship with an underage girl.

Stephanie Shorney, 34, is accused of multiple sexual offences involving an underage girl in West Dorset between January 28, 2017 and January 27, 2019.

The girl, who was aged between 14 and 15 during this time, cannot be named for legal reasons.

Shorney, of Hill View, Maiden Newton, denies seven counts of sexual offences in a trial at Winchester Crown Court.

Over the course of the trial, Shorney confirmed she had a sexual relationship with the girl after she turned 16, but denied there was any sexual touching before her 16th birthday. The complainant alleged that there was sexual contact when she was 14 and 15.

A number of incidents were disputed, including whether or not Shorney and the complainant had sex on the front room floor of Shorney’s family home in August 28, 2018, and whether any sexual relations occurred at a workplace.

On the seventh day of the trial, prosecutor Simon Foster and defending David Freeland both addressed the jury to summarise their arguments and urged jury members to carefully examine the case’s evidence.

Mr Foster said that Shorney took advantage of a ‘vulnerable girl’ and believed there was evidence of a sexual attraction between the pair. He believed a certain text from Shorney, which was written in bid to reconnect, referred to sexual tension between them while the complainant was painting Shorney’s nails while she was underage.

Mr Freeland aimed to discredit the girl’s account of events given she gave a varied account during her two police interviews and in cross examination.

He also denied that Shorney attempted to end her life in November 2019 and that the contact number the complainant had exchanged text messages with was a ‘dead number’.

He said: “This strange obsession to discredit Mrs Shorney seems to be a part of a theme from the victim.

“As you saw from the video interviews, she suggests she tried to break off the relationship three or four times.

“She also suggested she tried to take her own life or had gone to hospital. Mrs Shorney admits she struggled with her mental health and took prescription medication but she had never tried to take her own life.

“You heard it from her, her neighbour, her husband and parents.”

He added that the jury must put aside their ‘moral bias and compass’ about their feelings about a relationship between a 16-year-old girl and a woman in her 30s and assess whether or not anything illegal happened before the alleged victim turned 16.

Before summarising the evidence to the jury, the judge, Recorder Michael Bowes, said: “It is critical to assess if any sexual activity happened before the girl turned 16.

“Any conduct after that is simply not a criminal offence.”

The jury was retiring today to consider a verdict.

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