A HAMPSHIRE teenager who told “outright lies” and falsely claimed she had been raped has been locked up.

Charlotte Lane told police that she had been raped by a stranger at an unknown address in July last year.

In a police interview the 18-year-old said she had felt “tipsy” after sharing three bottles of wine with friends in Southampton city centre.

She claimed that she decided to go on alone to another bar in the city centre to see a friend when she was accosted by a man in a taxi.

The teenager said she was then pulled from the car and taken to the side of a house where she claimed she was raped on a patio table.

After inquiries were made with the taxi driver police arrested a 19-year-old man who said he had consensual sex with Lane.

Carl Anderson, prosecuting at Southampton Crown Court, said that as the police investigation progressed “significant doubt” emerged about Lane’s version of events.

He said numerous witness statements, CCTV footage and mobile phone records all confirmed the account given by the initial suspect.

Lane, of Chadwick Road, Eastleigh, pleaded guilty to one charge of perverting the course of justice.

Alistair Wright, mitigating, said that Lane had a “disturbed history” growing up, including the death of her father in a road traffic accident.

He said that she made up the allegation as an “expression of regret” for having had sex with the man, failing to see that regret was not the same as a lack of consent.

He added: “She (Lane) appears to recognise part of the impact on the community but not the levels of seriousness.”

Judge Derwin Hope sent Lane, who has a previous conviction for battery, to a young offenders’ institution for 20 weeks.

“An enormous amount of police time was taken up with the police investigation while you persisted with the lies,”

he said.

“I am in no doubt that this matter is so serious only a custodial sentence will do.”