Scared girl made false rape claim
A teenage girl falsely claimed she had been gang-raped because she was scared to tell her mother she spent the night with a colleague, a court has heard.
Victoria Eaves, 19, of Winton, Greater Manchester, told police she had been blindfolded and attacked by four men.
Officers wasted up to 200 hours on the investigation before finding CCTV evidence disproving her account.
Eaves admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice and was given a 12-month community order.
The teenager, from Bromsgrove Avenue, was also fined £192 costs at the hearing at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court.
Judge Adrian Lyon said Eaves had told “childish lies” to get herself out of trouble – but said he believed she was unlikely to offend again.
The fake rape was reported to police by the girl’s mother in the early hours of 28 July 2005, the court heard.
Eaves claimed she had been walking to a bus stop when she was blindfolded, bundled into a Subaru car and driven to an unknown address.
John Marsh QC, prosecuting, said: “She said she had been bundled into the house and effectively gang-raped before being blindfolded again and pushed out into the street.”
Eaves gave police a full description of the vehicle, the street and her attackers.
‘Lying culture’
Greater Manchester Police detectives identified a possible crime scene, tried to obtain CCTV footage, arranged for Eaves to be interviewed and examined and targeted a number of young men who matched the description of her attacker.
“If they had taken her word for it there could have been a real problem,” Mr Marsh added.
On further investigation police discovered Eaves had actually spent most of the evening drinking with a colleague in the Rovers Return pub in Salford before going back to their workplace and having sex.
Iain Johnstone QC, defending, said Eaves was involved in a “culture of lying to cover up matters at home”.
He said: “She felt that her mother would blame her for what happened because she had been out and had consumed alcohol.
“Miss Eaves was in fear of what her mother may make of the situation.”
Courtesy: BBC
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