AN ANGRY mob gathered outside a crown court today after the appearance of a teen who ‘made up claims she was trafficked and sexually abused by a gang’. The 19-year-old who lives in Barrow-in-Furness, is charged with seven counts of perverting the course of justice between October 2017 and October 2019. Prosecutors allege she made […]
AN ANGRY mob gathered outside a crown court today after the appearance of a teen who ‘made up claims she was trafficked and sexually abused by a gang’.
The 19-year-old who lives in Barrow-in-Furness, is charged with seven counts of perverting the course of justice between October 2017 and October 2019.
Prosecutors allege she made false claims of rape, sexual exploitation and trafficking.
When the woman appeared at Preston Crown Court yesterday, around 40 people stood outside in protest.
It’s alleged the defendant said she was taken to parties where she was plied with drugs and repeatedly raped between 2017 and 2019.
After a 12-month probe, police reportedly found no evidence to support her claims.
Prosecutor Jamie Hamilton said: “It’s the Crown’s case that she was in possession of two mobiles and was texting herself purporting to be a male that she had met.”
He claimed the charges are “separate but connected”.
A judge heard today that the first alleged incident happened in October 2017.
It was said that the woman made a false allegation of rape and sexual assault against a man and then ‘manufactured evidence to support the claim’.
Three of the charges involve a second man.
Prosecutors say the defendant ‘fabricated’ text messages and social media posts.
She faces two further counts in relation to an “extensive” allegation of trafficking and sexual exploitation by two men.
Prosecutors say these claims were “wholly false”.
In a separate incident, she is alleged to have invented another account of sexual exploitation and trafficking.
Louise Blackwell, QC, defending, said: “Undoubtedly, the defendant denies it.”
The woman, who was remanded into custody, is expected to enter her pleas in a hearing at the same court on November 23 or 24.
A provisional trial date of August 2 2021 was set, with an estimated length of 10 weeks.
Judge Brown said the delay was “due almost entirely to the current circumstances we face due to this dreadful pandemic” but he added he hoped it would be brought forward at some point.
