Girl's rape claim was false

Detectives have reprimanded a girl for wasting police time after her rape claim was found to be false.

Police began an investigation involving house-to-house inquiries on June 13 after interviewing the 17-year-old girl who had claimed the previous day that two men wearing hoodies had raped her in daylight the previous Friday.

The girl said the attack happened after she was accosted as she walked along Chapel Path, which runs from Barrack Road to London Road, Bexhill.

DI Owen Poplett says police have now established that the lunch-time rape did not happen.

He said: "After careful consideration of all the circumstances, Sussex Police detectives have taken the decision to issue an official reprimand to the female for wasting police time.

"Police will always thoroughly investigate any allegation of rape and would urge any victim to contact the police at the earliest opportunity."