Former schoolgirl cleared of making false rape claim

● Woman argued a drink was spiked during house party

A former private schoolgirl was yesterday acquitted of making a false rape claim after a video emerged of her and two boys engaged in sex acts during a high school house party that “got out of control”.

The woman, who was then aged 17 and who is now a university student, had planned a get together with friends, but tried to cancel it when a Facebook event page was left public and hundreds of teenagers signed up to attend.

When the party went head at her parents’ house in Fife, the property was trashed, with radiators ripped off walls, holes poked in the ceiling and curtain rails destroyed.

The Monday following the Saturday night event the girl told friends she had had “a threesome” with two boys at the party but later told them she hadn’t given the teenagers consent.

A video later emerged of the act in progress and was shared among pupils in schools across Fife.

Later that day she went to the police and alleged she had been sexually assaulted – leading to two of the then 16-yearold males being arrested and charged with raping her.

Following a painstaking investigation those charges were dropped and she was instead charged with wasting police time.

She maintained during a 10-day trial at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court that she had been attacked – with her defence counsel describing one of the boys as a “sexual predator” and stating he was “going round the party like a dog in heat”.

They argued the woman’s drink may have been spiked.

A jury yesterday found her not guilty of the charges. As she walked free from the dock a sheriff told her: “I hope in all the circumstances you have found perhaps there is some merit in our criminal justice system after all.”

Earlier in the trial, one friend said she had been told of a “threesome” at school two days after the party by the woman – but later received a text message stating: “What I told you about today. I need you to keep that to yourself. I didn’t give my consent to him and when my parents asked if I was okay, I burst into tears and told them.”

The 20-year-old woman denied two charges on indictment of wasting police time and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Afterwards the woman’s solicitor, Aamer Anwar, said she had been through “over three years of hell”, adding: “She is relieved at the today’s verdict delivered by the jury.”