A rape trial dramatically collapsed after a girl admitted she had based false claims against her father on the book Fifty Shades of Grey.

Describing the case in her blog, defence barrister Cathy McCulloch said that her client initially had "absolutely no real defence" against allegations that he had raped his daughter eight times over a six-year period.

However, after learning that the girl's favourite book was E.L. James' erotic bestseller and noticing parts of her police interview which seemed "beyond her years" the defence team speed-read the book and noticed "striking similarities" between the two.