Girl cautioned following false rape allegation in Astley Avenue

Detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate have cautioned a 16 year old girl from Dover for wasting police time after she admitted fabricating a story about being raped by a stranger.

At about 4.30pm on Monday 8 December 2014, the teenager contacted police to report that she had been raped by an unknown man in Astley Avenue, Dover. The Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate launched a full scale investigation, conducted house to house enquiries and uniformed officers completed checks in the area to establish whether the reported rape was linked to any historic offences.

The investigation highlighted numerous anomalies and the alleged victim was arrested some weeks later for perverting the course of justice. She subsequently admitted that she had not been raped nor was she in the Astley Avenue area at the time.

Detectives referred the matter to the Crown Prosecution Service and this week the 16 year old was formally cautioned for wasting police time.

Investigating Officer, Detective Sergeant Fiona Mattholie, said: "A huge amount of police time and resources were wasted investigating false claims. This had the potential to impact on other reported offences. Not only were valuable police resources diverted but the claims of a stranger rape in the area caused local residents a great deal of concern."

'We would like to reassure the community that we thoroughly pursue all allegations of crime and in this instance, the victim was the offender. Wasting police time is a serious offence and I hope this sends a message to people that we have a zero tolerance approach to such offences regardless of age, gender or personal circumstances."

"All rape victims will get the full support of a dedicated team of specialist offers and a wealth of other agencies who will help the victim through the police investigation and any subsequent court proceedings, and be treated with the utmost sensitivity throughout."