Nottingham rape claim woman sentenced

A 19-year-old woman who falsely claimed she had been raped in Nottingham has been sentenced to two years at a young offenders institution.

Aisha Mather, of Hertford Road, Stevenage, told police she was raped by a man who followed her into an address on North Sherwood Street in January.

Mather pleaded guilty to perverting the cause of justice at Nottingham Crown Court on 10 May.

Det Insp Mat Healey said resources were taken away from real crime victims.

He said: "In this case we put in significant police resources, including extra patrols to reassure other residents, and invested a lot of time following various lines of inquiry, which were later found to have been made up. We even arrested a man based on a description given, who was released without charge.

"It is extremely disappointing that someone would go to the extreme of making something like this up. It took valuable resources away from helping others who had been real victims of crime."

But Det Insp Healey stressed that people who had been raped should not be put off reporting it to the police, saying: "Genuine rape victims first have to come to terms with what has happened, and we find they often question whether people will believe them. It is an extremely traumatic and distressing time."