A woman who fabricated accounts of rape and sexual assault against 15 men for 'attention' has been convicted for the false claims.
The Daily Mail reported that Jemma Beale, from Middlesex, claimed to be a lesbian with no desire to sleep with men, but her false accusations led to a man being wrongly imprisoned for two years.
The 25-year old went so far as to self-inflict cuts and bruises as 'evidence' against the men she accused of serious sex attacks.
Her accusations were described as "grotesque inventions" by prosecutors, who found her guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice.
Ms Beale told police in 2010 that Mahad Cassim had raped her after offering her a ride home- but it was discovered she exited the car herself, and told him to remove his trousers.
Throughout the trial, jurors heard that the 37-year-old Somali, who had lived in the UK since 2002, offered her a ride home and was directed by Ms Beale to a secluded alleyway.
Mr Cassim said she was asking questions, "obviously about sex", and they exited the car.
"I said 'are you sure?' and she said 'yes- I asked three times', and said 'OK'."
"Then all of a sudden she told me to pull off my underwear."
Mr Cassim was tried for rape in 2011, and again in 2012, and was given seven years in prison.
In a victim impact statement Ms Beale described the 'devastating' effect the 'rape' had on her.
"I feel that any sentence he receives will never reflect the life sentence that he gave me," she said.
Ms Beale was issued $19,000(NZD) in compensation while Mr Cassim served two years before he was released.
She went on to make further false claims- that in 2012 she was groped by a stranger before he took part in a gang rape on her, injuring herself to support the claim she had been cut with barbed wire.
In 2013 she fabricated more serious sexual allegations against six men, including another gang rape.
Crime scene examiners found her DNA and an earring at the scene of the purported gang rape, which was later found to be falsely left there, "because the group of men did not exist" prosecutor John Price, QC, said.
Finally arrested in 2014, she was charged in March 2016.
Ms Beale told the court she had been bullied at school for being fat, and said she was a lesbian.
"I'm not going to go to a man I don't know and ask him for sex. I ain't bisexual at all."
Mr Price described her explanations for her false claims as "bogus psychobabble".
Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith ordered psychiatric reports and referred to Beale's "attention-seeking, which is what this case is all about."
The accused will remain in custody while she undergoes a psychiatric report, which will be delivered to the judge in August.
Newshub.
