Fantasist, 44, claimed she was the 'office cougar' and carried out a sinister campaign of sexual harassment against married male colleagues

Cambridge graduate Jeevani Wickramaratna, 44, emailed a co-worker's wife, claiming he was having an affair with her

She alleged in a Facebook post that colleague Paul Stokes was HIV positive - a claim that was untrue

She sent sexually explicit and abusive emails and claimed a fellow worker had harassed HER

One victim was forced to change his phone number after being bombarded with calls



District judge told her she was living in a 'complete fantasy world' and jailed her

'Cougar': Jeevani Wickramaratna was jailed for 26 weeks after being found guilty of three charges of harassment

A self-proclaimed ‘office cougar’ has been jailed for sexual harassment after spreading lies and rumours about her male colleagues.

Cambridge graduate Jeevani Wickramaratna, 44, targeted one victim at an electronics firm where she worked, claiming to be having an affair with him.

She emailed his wife about the fictitious relationship and even pretended he was HIV positive.

After moving to another firm, she falsely reported another colleague to bosses for harassing her.

A court heard that Wickramaratna’s first victim was co-worker Paul Stokes.

The software engineer became infatuated with him and started writing to him after he offered her some birthday cake.

Christine Hart, prosecuting, said: ‘She claimed Mr Stokes was having an affair with the office cougar [an older woman who prefers younger men], and many of the messages were sexually explicit and caused great distress to both him and his family.

‘Wickramaratna then began sending him a series of messages saying she was setting him free and said she had told his family about their affair and that he loved her.’

Further abusive Facebook messages were sent, including a false allegation that Mr Stokes had been diagnosed with HIV.

The court heard Mr Stokes had never had an affair with the defendant. He later reported her to police. In a statement to the court, Mr Stokes said she had put him and his wife ‘through hell’ and her persistent communications had caused considerable stress.

He said: ‘The hurtful stories she concocted from her deranged imagination became more and more aggressive and led me to fear for the safety of my wife and children.’

He said the threat of harassment continued and he felt he had to check his house at night.

Miss Hart said: ‘The police contacted Wickramaratna telling her not to contact Mr Stokes but she wrote back revealing explicit details of their affair that she believed had taken place and referred to herself as the cougar.’

The building in Shepton Mallet where two of the victims worked

She later left the electronics company in Portsmouth where she worked with Mr Stokes, and moved to a communications firm in Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

There she met a new male colleague, Pir Khan, and started sending him accusatory messages before reporting him to the company’s owner, Kazeem Benzair.

Miss Hart said: ‘Mr Khan received a message from the defendant asking if he would stop making uncomfortable gestures towards her and he replied saying he did not understand what comments she was referring to.

‘A number of abusive messages were then sent but the defendant claimed they had been sent by her boyfriend Jeremy – a man whom the police were not able to ascertain even existed.

‘She then reported Mr Khan to Mr Benzair for harassment and both parties were put on gardening leave from the firm.’ During the subsequent investigation she sent 107 abusive emails to Mr Benzair despite pleas by his wife Joanne, who had a serious illness.

Mr Benzair said he paid a solicitor £9,000 to deal with matters and said the stress had made his wife’s medical condition worse.

He said: ‘We were bombarded with calls at work and home and had to change our telephone number. I was unable to sleep properly for many weeks.’

Wickramaratna, of Buckingham, denied three charges of harassment but was convicted on all counts.

Jailing her for six months at South Somerset Magistrates’ Court in Yeovil, District Judge David Parsons said: ‘With regard to Paul Stokes you seriously risked damaging a happy and stable marriage and you caused him and his wife complete humiliation.

‘Pir Khan was subjected to your wicked lies which were so deplorable that he was suspended for something he had not done.

‘Kazeem Benzair was damaged commercially and all this happened while his wife was seriously and possibly terminally ill.

‘You persisted on sending people emails even after being warned by the police and have shown no remorse, empathy or regret.