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A WOMAN was jailed after falsely accusing her friend’s son of raping her.

Kelly Harwood, 43, had drunken consensual sex with the 30-year-old on a camp bed set up in her friend’s kitchen.

But she felt guilty when they stopped because she realised she had betrayed her friend.

She called the police and lied to officers by claiming that she had been raped at the property in Aberdeen.

Her victim was subjected to an intrusive medical examination and interviewed under caution by police carrying out their investigations.

Harwood eventually came clean and admitted that she had not told the truth when she was questioned again two days later.

She was charged with wasting police time on May 7 last year and admitted the offence when she appeared in court.

Sentence was deferred until yesterday and she was jailed for a year.

Sheriff William Summers told her: “The reality is that you face a very serious charge. You had consensual sex with a man and thereafter accused him of rape.

“It is hard to imagine a more serious allegation made against someone in that situation.”

Harwood was at a party at her friend’s house on May 6 and the flat had been filled with people drinking.

Her friend’s son turned up at the flat later on and the pair became intimate when everyone else had left.

They had consensual sex in the kitchen after her friend had gone to her bed but Harwood told him she had not agreed to it moments after they stopped.

Harwood, of Aberdeen, then called the police and said she had been raped while she had been sleeping at the city flat.

The concerned man then ran to wake up his mum to let her know what had happened.

But Harwood told them not to worry, insisting that she would tell the police the truth. However, she continued with her false story when officers arrived.

She was taken to Wolmanhill Hospital where she was medically examined and her victim was interviewed at a police station.

The court heard yesterday that the offence deprived the public of police officers and cost a total of 1,352 pounds.

Defence lawyer Graeme Morrison said: “As far as this offence was concerned, she was suffering from a mental health problem exacerbated to a large extent with the amount of alcohol she had consumed that night and around that time.

“On the night of the offence she was very drunk.

“This was a friend of hers son, it was not something she set out to do.”

Mr Morrison said his client had little recollection of the night and was still intoxicated when she spoke to the police.

He said she had eventually given officers a “full and frank” admission that the sex was consensual.

The lawyer said his client then spent about three weeks in hospital after being diagnosed with depression and was now on medication.

Sheriff Summers said it was clear that she suffered from a depressive illness but said the offence was so serious that only a custodial sentence was appropriate.