Aug 10, 2010
A mother-of-four who lied about being raped because she was ashamed of having sex with a soldier in an alleyway has been jailed for 15 months.
Cheryl Moss, 26, wasted 180 hours of police time and £5,500 of taxpayers' money before finally admitting the allegation was false.
The single mother pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice after police found nearly an hour's CCTV footage of the consensual intercourse taking place.
Moss had been drunk when she struck up a conversation with 19-year-old soldier Martin Devine in a nightclub in Bournemouth, Dorset.
They left the club and had sex in a back alleyway which lasted for nearly an hour.
Moss even gave the trainee soldier her mobile phone number before they said goodbye.
But the court heard she then became distressed after the sordid event and caught a taxi home, where a friend found her crying.
The friend assumed she had been assaulted and called the police and Moss claimed she been raped.
Despite being made aware of the CCTV Moss, an unemployed cleaner, maintained the allegation for a further month, forcing police to investigate.
A team of six detectives, seven uniformed officers and civilian staff were involved in the month-long probe.
Mr Devine, who was nearing the end of a gunnery course at Lulworth Camp at the time before being posted to Afghanistan, was interviewed by police but never arrested.
It was only after a month later, after failing to attend police interviews, that the separated mum finally confessed she had made the allegation up.
Moss wept hysterically through the court hearing and was sentenced to 15 months in prison.
Heather Shimmen, prosecuting, said Moss met Mr Devine, from Kettering, at the Toko nightclub in Bournemouth on a night out on November 7 last year.
She said: 'She claimed she had been raped by a soldier she had met whilst out.
'In making her allegation she stated that the soldier had taken her down the alley and forced himself on her even though she asked him to stop on many occasions.
'By November 12, officers recovered CCTV showing the location of the incident. It was of good quality, lasted for 57 minutes and showed the incident in question.
'It clearly showed sexual intercourse which was consensual. She initiated contact between the two parties.
'When officers spoke to her about the CCTV she maintained it was true.
'Her response was that it was not consenting. She said "it made me feel uncomfortable and dirty."
'She said she wanted the male arrested and was happy to go to court.
'The soldier was never arrested but the allegations were put to him. His account matched what was seen on CCTV.
'He said Miss Moss had given him her phone number and that he had texted her the following day.'
The court heard Miss Moss did not attend a further interview with the police.
On December 2, she stated she no longer wished to pursue the complaint and apologised for wasting police time.
By that time, the investigation had already wasted 180 hours of police time and cost £5,496 of taxpayers' money - excluding legal costs.
Anne Brown, defending, said: 'It's a classic case of someone who has done something when heavily in drink and is overwhelmed by feelings of enormous shame.
'They cannot believe how they have behaved and immediately start making excuses as to why they have behaved in such a degrading fashion.
'She has then immediately become very distressed. When she gets home, she is sobbing very heavily. Her friend sees her and immediately assumes that something has gone wrong.
'Her friend telephoned the police and she is then in a very difficult position.
'Not familiar with the criminal justice system, she is not aware of the enormity of what she is doing. When she realises it, the pressure is on and police are engaged.
'She starts to realise how serious it is and it become incredibly difficult to face up to what she has done.'
Jailing her at Bournemouth Crown Court, judge Samuel Wiggs said: 'What you did was very serious.
'There is the enormous expenditure of police time which could have been used elsewhere to greater effect then investigating the allegations you made.
'Second is the obvious effect on the man you accused.
'Fortunately he was never arrested because it became clear very quickly that it was unlikely that what you were saying was the truth.
'It must have been very frightening for him that he might at some stage be charged with the extremely serious offence of rape.
'Even if he was acquitted it would be difficult to put away completely because people sometimes say there is no smoke without fire.
'I cannot avoid a prison sentence; it is too serious for that.'
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