Elizbeth Jones
Elizabeth Jones

A woman inflicted "incredible stress" by making false rape claims against men 11 times in less than 10 years, police have said.

Elizabeth Jones, 22, was jailed for making false allegations against a man she knew after they had had an argument.

Southampton Crown Court heard that she went to police with a made-up story that he had attacked her by dragging her into a building against her will.

The unnamed man was arrested and interrogated for nine hours by detectives.

He denied the allegation. CCTV footage from the location did not tally with Jones's version of events.

Police mounted an inquiry after discovering that Jones had urged a friend to tell officers that she was the victim of an attack. She repeated the allegations at a medical examination at a police station.

Jennie Rickman, prosecuting, told the court: "There is a history of her making false allegations of this nature and this is the 11th incident.

"Police had to take her allegation seriously and carried out an appropriate investigation.

"She was later arrested and accepted that she had lied about being raped - she said she did it because she did not like him."

It emerged that Jones made her first false rape claim when she was just 13 years old, in 2004. Between 2005 and 2007 she lodged a total of eight claims with police - more than one every six months. Each claim was investigated by police and dismissed.

The judge at Southampton court jailed Jones for 16 months for perverting the course of justice. It emerged that she had served time at a detention centre in 2009 for a similar but separate claim.

DC Tim Blanche said that Jones had a "complex" life and had spent time inside the care system.

After sentencing, he described the impact that the rape allegations had had on her latest victim.

"The man was arrested and he gave a statement. He had to live his life with people accusing him of being a rapist," he said.

"He became incredibly stressed. When he heard she got 16 months, he was disappointed and felt that the time wasn't long enough after what she put him through."

Police criticised her behaviour and said it could discourage real victims from coming forward. The police have been criticised for low conviction rates for rape.

Blanche said: "False allegations undermine the work that the police have done and make it harder for genuine rape victims to come forward.

"We encourage all victims to come forward but sadly Elizabeth was one of the people that was not telling the truth."

READ: Rape Victims 'Encouraged by Police to Drop Allegations'