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Female law student jailed after making up rape allegation


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A law student who lied about being raped because she was too ashamed to tell her parents she had failed her exams was jailed for two years yesterday. Aisha Mather's hoax led to an innocent man being held for a day after Mather ripped her own tights and wrecked her flat in a 'mind-boggingly' elaborate attempt to back up her allegation. She said she had been dragged inside by the hair and brutally attacked by a tattooed stranger who followed her home.

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A jury heard she made-up the claim so she could say the distress of the attack was her reason for returning home to her parents - rather than her dropping out.

She was running out of money as she could no longer claim her student loan. The 19-year-old also gave an extremely detailed e-fit description of her 'rapist' - which led police to arrest a suspect and detain him for more than a day. Three other men were also spoken to by officers before all four were eliminated from the investigation, which involved forensic examinations, door-to-door inquiries, and extra patrols to reassure worried residents. But Mather's story began to unravel when detectives looked deeper into her claim and found a number of inconsistencies.

A book she said she'd been reading in a library before the attack called The Story Greek Marriage was being held in storage and not available to the public. Mather, who pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, eventually admitted she had lied eight days after first reporting the attack.

Nottingham Crown Court heard the teenager, who had failed her first year law exams at the city's Trent University because she had 'spent more time socialising than studying', had been unable to tell her parents she'd been kicked off her course. The hearing was told she'd got into debt as she was no longer eligible for a student loan, and needed to create a story which would allow her to return to her home in Stevenage without revealing she had failed her degree. Judge Tony Mitchell said Mather, who wept as she was sentenced, was 'in the midst of her own drama'. He added: 'This is mind-boggling. Perhaps she did too much drama as a youngster. It is the behaviour of someone playing a wonderful game.

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'You are thoroughly dishonest, and your behaviour was utterly despicable. You had been playing the fool at university, got yourself into debt, and wanted your parents to dig you out without having to admit the truth. You are thoroughly self-centred, and self-concerned.'

Dawn Pritchard, prosecuting, said Mather dialled 999 on January 6 this year and said she'd been dragged inside her city centre flat, forced to the floor, and attacked by a black man with tattoos and distinctive shaved lines in his hair who had followed her home from the university library.

The court heard she consented to a full medical examination, and 'seemed visibly shocked' when giving an account of the incident to detectives. In the days that followed, she repeated the allegation, even after being told a man had been arrested. But investigating officers began to have doubts when they were unable to find any forensic evidence of an attacker at the scene, despite Mather's claim a semen stain had been left on her tights.

Further inquiries revealed Mather was no longer a student at the university, and had lied about recently having a miscarriage.

Detectives were also unable to find any CCTV trace of Mather on the detailed route home she had provided, and discovered she had lied about reading in the university library before the alleged assault.

She rang her father and claimed she'd been followed home by a man, then started crying hysterically down the phone.

Miss Pritchard said Mather's mother then took the phone, and asked if she'd been raped. When Mather failed to respond other than crying, her mother assumed she had, and told her to call the police.

Phillipa Ellis, defending, said 'She was too ashamed to tell her parents what was going on, and made up a story to get out of Nottingham without having to incur further debt. Matters escalated and snowballed out of control.

'She feels a sense of deep shame and remorse.' DI Mat Healey, of Notts Police, said: 'When someone reports that they have been subjected to an ordeal such as rape, we take this extremely seriously and investigate it thoroughly. '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.'

Some scandalous women about. Good that she actually went down for this.

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I aint even sayin anything else that hasnt been said, c/s everyone above me

so she just got a random black guy arrested yea? Im not exactly a Black Panther member but that pissed me off that the first race she went for was black, makes me think she thinks the most likely person to rape her would be black

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