A young woman broke down in tears as a sheriff warned that her actions had made it more difficult for genuine victims of sexual assault to be believed.
Kayleigh Thomson claimed she had been attacked in the centre of Blairgowrie in a bid to get a reaction from her “inattentive” boyfriend.
The 22-year-old who was heavily under the influence of alcohol refused to contact the police but, when her partner did, she decided to stick to her story.
Over a period of three days, Thomson had many opportunities to come clean, but continued to claim she had been attacked.
Solicitor Steve Lafferty said his client had been embarrassed and had not wished to admit her lie in front of her boyfriend, who was present during a number of interviews.
The police brought in expert officers to take statements from Thomson but discrepancies in her various accounts eventually became clear.
Finally, after 80 hours of police time had been wasted at a cost of more than £1,500, she admitted that her claim of assault was a lie.
She received a stern lecture from Sheriff Lindsay Foulis, who told her she had committed “a very serious offence” one so serious that she had run the risk of being imprisoned.
“One of the reasons being put forward for the abolition of corroboration is the difficulty experienced in gaining convictions on sexual offences,” he said.
“There is a belief in some people’s minds that not all allegations are well founded and that they are fabrications on the part of the alleged victims.
“Your petulant and attention-seeking actions give weight to that and potentially make it more difficult for people who are genuine victims of sexual assault to be believed. That is why they are so serious.”
Thomson, of Balmoral Road in Blairgowrie, admitted lying that she had been the victim of a sexual assault on April 14 this year.
She was sentenced to the maximum 300 hours of unpaid work as a direct alternative to prison.