Fake rape

Detectives have reprimanded a girl for wasting police time.

House-to-house inquiries began last Wednesday after the 17-year-old girl had claimed the previous day that two men wearing hoodies had raped her in daylight the previous Friday.

The girl said the attack happened after she was accosted as she walked along Chapel Path, which runs from Barrack Road to London Road.

The public footpath is bordered on one side by houses in Salisbury Road and on the other by those in Bayencourt South.

The girl claimed one man had pinned her arms and dragged to the footpath leading to Bayencourt South where the other man assaulted her.

In an appeal for witnesses last Thursday, the head of Rother CID, Detective Inspector Owen Poplett, issued the descriptions of two young men the girl claimed had raped her.

On Monday DI Poplett said police had now established that the lunch-time rape did not happen.

He said: "After careful consideration of all the circumstances, Sussex Police detectives have taken the decision to issue an official reprimand to the female for wasting police time.

"Police will always thoroughly investigate any allegation of rape and would urge any victim to contact the police at the earliest opportunity.

"The resources that are committed to such allegations are considerable and often impact on the community in the area that enquiries are being made.

"For that reason, on the rare occasions that a false report is made, it will always be treated as a very serious matter.

"I would like to thank all those members of the community who assisted, or were inconvenienced by the enquiries, for their co-operation, and take this opportunity to emphasise that attacks of the type alleged are extremely rare."

Rother commander Chief Inspector Steve Brookman said: "'Rother CID department investigated this matter thoroughly and diligently. I am satisfied that the offence as alleged did not happen.

"It was important to engage the public in this investigation via the media at an early stage, in order to capture any potential witness evidence that may have been available of the offence.

"It is my sincerest hope that previous reporting did not cause undue alarm or fear."