Florence police say Miss Bowes could be arrested if she sets foot in Italy

Student has returned home but fears that she could be extradited

She will be tried for 'slander' and could face a maximum of 12 years in jail

Alexander Aveiro Tahiri (pictrued) says there was ‘hugging and kissing’ but no sexual assault when he met Serena Bowes

This is the Italian nightclub worker who accuses a British fashion student of crying rape.

Alexander Aveiro Tahiri, 23, says there was ‘hugging and kissing’ but no sexual assault when he met Serena Bowes, 21, in a Florence nightclub in May.

Miss Bowes fears she could be extradited to Italy after police took his side – saying she had made up the claim that she was attacked in a toilet.

She has been served notice that she will go on trial for ‘slander’ against Mr Tahiri, a charge carrying a maximum penalty of 12 years in prison.

Police in Florence told the Mail she could be tried in her absence and arrested if she ever set foot in Italy.

They said it was normal procedure for alleged sex assault victims to be accused of slander if there was doubt about the attack.

In the case of Miss Bowes, who has waived her right to anonymity, they said detectives had viewed video footage from the nightclub and concluded her rape claim was false.

Miss Bowes had hoped to put the harrowing event behind her when she returned home from the trip to the Tuscan city with 20 other students from her fashion course at Newcastle College.

On the second day of their trip, some of the group ventured to the Full Up club in the city centre, where Miss Bowes started talking to a man. As they were walking to the VIP section of the club, Miss Bowes claims he dragged her into a unisex toilet and raped her.

After a while she said she heard a friend, who had grown concerned about her, calling her name and she dashed out of the cubicle on her own, and left the nightclub with her friend.

Miss Bowes, a second-year student, went to hospital on the night of the incident, and then to a police station to give a statement. She denies claims that she kissed her alleged attacker after they came out of the toilet.

But a police source told the Mail: ‘They were hugging and kissing after coming out of the toilet. This is what the nightclub [CCTV] video shows and what witnesses told us. The hospital told us there were no signs of any injuries or assault on her body.’

Ordeal: Serena Bowes fears she could be extradited to Italy after police took Mr Tahiri's side

College visit: Miss Bowes, who is in her second year at Newcastle College, was on the trip to the Italian city of Florence in May as part of her fashion course

The source said Mr Tahiri had turned himself in after reading about the alleged rape in a local newspaper.

‘He came to a police station to say it wasn’t rape, it wasn’t true. He wasn’t arrested or formally questioned because he was not considered a suspect. From the evidence we had, we concluded the girl was not raped.

‘He [Mr Tahiri] made the request for the authorities to pursue a slander case against the girl, and that is what the public prosecutor is now doing.’

A source at the nightclub said Mr Tahiri was a promoter whose job was to drum up business by handing out flyers to drinkers in nearby bars. He said: ‘Alex told us that he did not rape the girl and we believe him because the video shows them together after they came out of the toilet. When the police saw the video, they said “Forget it”.

‘But we told Alex he could not work here any more because having sex in the toilets is not what he is being paid for.’

As they were walking to the VIP section of the club, Miss Bowes claims a man dragged her into a unisex toilet and raped her

He said Mr Tahiri is of Moroccan origin and was raised in the northern Italian city of Mantua. He has a day job at a Florence travel agency, targeting tourists with offers of trips to attractions such as Verona and Assisi.

Yesterday Mr Tahiri did not show up for work and was said to be unavailable for comment.

Miss Bowes, from Walker, Newcastle, is furious detectives did not believe her.

She said: ‘The police just didn’t care – they were rude and disrespectful. Through my translator, they just said: “Well, this happens every day in Florence”.

‘My life feels like it has gone and I have no control of what is happening. I feel like there’s a ticking time-bomb over my head.’