This is the selfie which helped prove the innocence of one of the 12 Israeli men accused of gang raping a British woman in Cyprus.

The image showing Yona Golub in bed with his girlfriend helped to untangle his accuser's tissue of lies because it was taken at the same time she told police she was attacked.

The relieved 18-year-old says the photo is the only reason he is back home in Israel and not banged up in a Cypriot jail facing a long sentence.

The case against Yona was dropped immediately when he gave police this selfie (above) his girlfriend took while she was in bed with him on June 17, the morning of the alleged gang rape

Yona Golub, 18, (pictured) spent 12 days in custody in Cyprus accused of raping a British woman with 11 more Israelis at a hotel in Ayia Napa - but was freed when she changed her story

The image prompted the case against all 12 Israelis to collapse and the British woman, 19, (above) who MailOnline is not naming, withdrew her statement that she had been raped

Speaking fully for the first time since he was freed, Yona told how he was dragged out of bed by police as officers stormed his hotel.

'The police banged on the door, they woke me up. The officers came rushing in. They pulled me from my bed and said 'You're being arrested on suspicion of rape'. I didn't know what they were talking about.

'They made me get dressed, hand cuffed me and took me to the station. I was so confused. I had no idea what was going on. My girlfriend was terrified.'

Yona, who has returned home to the small city of Afula in northern Israel, went on: 'I wasn't even in the room and I've never met the woman in my life.

'I was with my Israeli girlfriend at the time but the police still connected me to it.

'When they came to arrest my friends they thought I was with this woman too.

'Apparently when she was shown my picture she said that I was there as well.

'It was all lies. It had nothing to do with me.

The police just believed that she was saying. But you saw that in the end she admitted she lied but it hasn't worked out so well for her.'

The British teenager, who MailOnline is not naming, is now facing a year in prison and a £1,000 fine after she was accused of making the whole thing up.

Yona (pictured) told of the moment police officers in Cyprus banged on his hotel room door and burst in to arrest him on suspicion of rape in front of his terrified girlfriend. They accused him of being a rapist after the woman said 12 men held her down and attacked her at the hotel

After the rape case against the 12 Israelis collapsed the woman (in pink with a minder) from the north of England changed her story and was charged with public mischief - or wasting police time. She appeared in court in Cyprus this week and was remanded in custody until August 7

The Israeli boys - who had filmed the sexual encounter with the woman - were criticised for their jubilant celebrations with friends and family when they arrived back in Israel (above)

She said the dozen Israelis, aged from 15 to 18, raped her in the room of the budget Pambos Napa Rocks Hotel on July 17 after a night of partying.

She had been in Ayia Napa for several weeks after flying to the resort from her home in the north of England where she lives with her mother and stepfather to find work in one of the nightclubs.

She had been living in one room at the hotel with several other British girls who were also working there.

It is believed the woman had had a holiday fling with one of the suspects before the allegations were made.

On the night she said she said she was gang-raped the woman is believed to have consented to sex with two other men at the hotel.

But the sex is said to have been filmed when other friends burst into the room leaving the woman distressed.

She told police that up to a dozen men had held her down before taking it in turns to sexually assault her.

The footage of her having sex with the men was then widely circulated via WhatsApp and online leaving her humiliated.

Five of the 12 were released after DNA testing and the remaining seven were freed after the woman 'changed her story'.

During questioning she withdrew her previous statement, saying there had been sexual contact with the suspects but she wasn't raped.

The woman had been in a relationship with one of the suspects when she apparently agreed to have sex with two of his friends at the Pambos Napa Rocks Hotel in Ayia Napa (pictured)

The British accuser had been sharing a room at the Pambos Napa Rocks hotel in Cyprus (pictured) with some other girls. She had arrived on the island to try and find work in clubs

Local news agencies reported that the teenager told investigators she filed a rape report because she was 'angry and insulted' that a number of the Israelis allegedly recorded a video of her having sex with some of them.

On the back of her new evidence, the woman was arrested on suspicion of making a false allegation and appeared in court in Paralimni, near Ayia Napa where she was remanded in custody.

Her lawyer argued that she had been the victim of 'revenge porn'.

In being filmed having sex, the woman's lawyer Andreas Pittadjis (above) argued that she had been the victim of 'revenge porn'

Andreas Pittadjis said the explicit video had been 'seen by the world'. He insisted the act of circulating the material was a far more serious offence than the charge faces.

But Yona dismissed the claims and said his life has been made a misery through his accuser's 'malicious and vindictive lies'.

He has been sacked from his job working in a restaurant and says his family have had insults shouted at them in the streets near their home.

Confirming that he plans to sue his accuser for damages, Yona said: 'People here don't understand what happened and curse my family.

'They don't understand that this girl said these things for no reason.

'My life has been made really difficult. I was fired from where I work because of this.

'My bosses recognised me from the news stories in Cyprus and told me 'don't come to work anymore.'

'I tried to explain the truth to them but they didn't listen.

'These claims, while false, unfortunately stick because Afula is a small city where everyone knows everyone.

The rape case has cast a dark cloud of Ayia Napa's tourist industry where young people attracted by cheap flights, drinks and accommodation go every year to let their hair down

The group sex incident took place at the budget Pambos Napa Rocks Hotel, a two-star resort, after a night of heavy drinking on July 17. Pictured: A a pool party at the hotel in Cyprus

'I walk in the street and people yell 'rapist.' They come to my mother and say 'your son is a rapist', to my little sister and say 'your brother is a rapist'.

'I've been humiliated because people know me and they think I raped her and this isn't a small story that just a few people know about. The whole world knows about it.

'I can't sleep and I'm having nightmares because I think about it all the time,' he added.