13-year-old 'rape victim' to be cautioned

A 13-year-old girl will be cautioned after claiming she had been raped following a night out in a trendy bar, police said today.

The teenager told police she had been subjected to the sex attack in the doorway of an alley next to the Purple Onion bar in Middlesbrough town centre.

After detectives quizzed a 23-year-old man over the alleged rape the girl admitted she made up the story.

She had told police that she had been socialising in the popular nightspot with a friend of the same age when they got separated.

The teenager claimed she had been raped just after midnight on Sunday and CCTV cameras picked out a man leaving the Purple Onion at the same time as her.

After a police appeal the man walked into a police station early on Tuesday.

He was questioned and released on bail and the girl was subsequently re-interviewed today.

She admitted she had lied and the false allegation has now been withdrawn, a Cleveland Police spokesman said.

The teenager will be cautioned for wasting police time.

A police spokesman added: "This is a malicious allegation against a member of the public that diverted a wide range of police resources into investigating an incident which simply did not happen.

"This was not only a costly exercise for us but it blighted the name of this area.

"The wide-spread publicity generated by this fictitious allegation paints a bad image of the town, which is totally unjustified."