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Schoolgirl jailed over rape ‘lies’
A WIGAN schoolgirl has been locked up after falsely accusing a 13-year-old of raping her. The boy endured a six-month ordeal of police investigation, intimate medical examinations and a backlash of misguided recriminations.
The boy endured a six-month ordeal of police investigation, intimate medical examinations and a backlash of misguided recriminations.
Prosecutors said that there had been “severe emotional damage” to both the youngster and his family.
The girl, who like her victim cannot be named for legal reasons, alleged that the boy attacked her in an Ashton graveyard on the evening of April 16 last year.
The then 15-year-old (she is now 16) gave a very detailed account of the incident and even tried to use a bruise on her leg as evidence of the violence involved.
The boy she named was arrested on suspicion of rape, was quizzed by detectives, underwent tests to take intimate samples and for months had to undergo the terrible stigma of being branded a rapist.
But as the police inquiry progressed, holes began to appear in the girl’s story.
There was no forensic evidence and the timeline of events as recounted by the “rape victim” did not add up.
It was then shown that she had texted someone about the bruise on her shin on a date before the attack had been allaged to have taken place.
Confronted with the discrepancies by police on October 21 last year - more than six months after first reporting the “crime” - she finally admitted to having made the whole story up.
The girl has now appeared at Wigan and Leigh Youth Court to admit perverting the course of justice.
She was given a four-month detention and training order.
The chair of justices said at the hearing: “This was a serious offence - there have been long-term effects on a younger victim which may not be understood for years to come.
“There has been severe emotional damage to the victim and his family. It was only admitted to being a false allegation after extensive police inquiries showed her to be lying.
“For six months a 13-year-old child was branded a rapist and he was subjected to intimate examination.”
The court heard that the girl of was of previous good character.
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Saturday 25 May 2013
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