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A STUDENT who cried rape in a bid to grab the attention of an ex-boyfriend has avoided prison.

Hannah Byron met a man outside a Middlesbrough bar, shared a taxi with him and the pair had consensual sex, Teesside Crown Court heard.

But in the early hours of the morning, the Teesside University student sent texts to her former partner stating she had been raped.

After Byron reluctantly made a statement to police, the man she accused of rape was arrested at his home and detained in police custody for almost nine hours.

The court heard that Byron, 20, had only recently split up from her boyfriend but as they shared the same circle of friends she had found it difficult to move on.

On the night concerned in March last year, they bumped into each other at a bar on Southfield Road and later again at The Keys. Byron was drunk, said prosecutor Rupert Doswell, and she was ejected by door staff.

“The next he (her ex-partner) heard was a text message from the defendant telling him to come outside,” he said.

When he did so, he saw Byron flirting with a man.

“After this the defendant was seen getting into a taxi and almost immediately getting out,” said Mr Doswell.

“She asked him for some money for the taxi. He refused and left.”

The next morning at 3am Byron sent her ex-partner a series of text messages claiming she had been raped.

He contacted police, a statement was taken from Byron and the innocent man was arrested at his home.

“From the outset he maintained that although they had sex it had been entirely consensual,” said Mr Dowell.

He had taken a video which he showed to police, he said.

“It was clear from the video it was not the case that the defendant was being raped.”

Byron was subsequently arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.

Brian Russell, defending, suggested Byron got caught up in “a snowballing situation”.

“She felt it was difficult to get out of that at the time,” he said.

“She was unco-operative and clearly did not want not make the complaint,” he added.

Byron, of Eldon Street, York, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.

Judge George Moorhouse gave her a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with a supervision requirement for 12 months and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

He told her: “People who make false complaints do so at their peril.

“What you have to take into account is the adverse effects it could have had on the complainant. If a trial had proceeded he could have been facing a lengthy prison sentence. It must have been a very harrowing experience for him.”

Speaking after sentencing yesterday, Detective Constable James Emery of Middlesbrough CID said the victim of the malicious report was relieved that the case is now at an end.

He said that such allegations are a drain on police resources and after the sentence genuine victims of sexual assaults may be put off from approaching police.

He added: “We would like to reiterate that we continue to treat all such allegations seriously and wish to reassure the community that such reports will always be taken seriously and will be fully and properly investigated.”