She Claimed She Was Raped After A Fight With Her Boyfriend. She’s Getting No Jail Time.

Another woman making a false rape allegation will avoid jail time even after admitting she made up the claim.

Lauren Skinner, 18, claimed to police that she was raped by a stranger after leaving a bar in Swindon, a large town in Wiltshire, England., The Daily Mail reported. Skinner said she and her boyfriend had a fight and she was left alone, so she started walking to her boyfriend’s house, at which time she was approached by a stranger and then raped.

Police noticed discrepancies in Skinner’s story from her initial claims to the version she told them the next day. Skinner’s boyfriend was the one who first called the police after the 18-year-old told him she had been raped. Skinner told police she would go to the Sexual Assault Referral Center to be examined and also told police where the attack had occurred. Nurses and staff at SARC supported her when she made her claim.

Police set up a crime scene and looked through CCTV footage. They saw Skinner and her boyfriend near the area, but saw no sign of a stranger after the boyfriend left, reported Wiltshire999s, a local news outlet.

Police confronted Skinner with the information and arrested her. She admitted that she made up the claim after her boyfriend wouldn’t let her in his house after their fight.

“Seven police officers and four community support officers worked the case. Wiltshire Police calculated that 86 hours of police time, amounting to £2117.77, was wasted. But her visit to SARC, where nurses and other specialist staff had supported her, was not taken into account when calculating the figure,” Wiltshire999s reported.

Skinner’s attorney, Mark Glendenning, told the court that the young woman made up the lie because she was upset, alone in the early morning, and didn’t have anywhere else to go. She lied to get her boyfriend to let her in the house and then the whole ordeal turned into a “rollercoaster she couldn’t get off.” He said Skinner had made the allegation in a “throwaway remark” to her boyfriend, but once he called police she found it more difficult to tell the truth.

“Every step down that road made it much more difficult to recant and go backwards,” Glendenning said.

Her attorney also said she has since sought mental health support.

Despite the lie and wasted police time and resources, Skinner was sentenced to a two-year community order with 100 hours of community service. She is also no longer dating the boyfriend.

A police spokesman told reporters after the sentencing that Skinner “has shown little regard for the level of upset she has caused to others.”

“Her behavior could really have a negative impact on other victims of rape or sexual assault who may choose not to report it to police for fear that they will not be believed,” the spokesman said. “I would like to reassure victims of sexual assault that we take all reports extremely seriously and would encourage anyone who has been a victim, regardless of how much time has passed since the offense, to come forward and report it to police on 101.”