A British teenager found guilty of lying about being gang raped in Cyprus has said the local police forced her to withdraw her rape allegations in her first TV interview.
The 19-year-old woman, who is from Derbyshire, alleges she was sexually assaulted by up to 12 Israeli tourists in a hotel room in the party resort of Ayia Napa.
New details about the case have surfaced in an ITV documentary that includes interviews with an ex Home Office adviser, her mother, and friends who lived with her during the ordeal who have not previously spoken to the media.
Download the new Independent Premium app
Sharing the full story, not just the headlines
Download now
Da Gee, a former Detective Chief Superintendent who advised the government on policing, studied the eence in the case and concluded local police failed to properly investigate the young woman’s rape allegations.
“It’s very serious if people are allowed to walk free without full exploration of the circumstances of the case,” Mr Gee said on the show. “From what I’ve read, I’m comfortable in saying that this case has not been investigated as thoroughly as it should have been.”
left
Created with Sketch.
right
Created with Sketch.
1/50 12 May 2020
Nurses wearing face masks take part in an event held to mark International Nurses Day, at Wuhan Tongji Hospital in China
China Daily via Reuters
2/50 11 May 2020
Iraqi protesters gather on the Al-Jumhuriyah bridge in the capital Baghdad during an anti-government demonstration. Modest anti-government rallies resumed in some Iraqi cities Sunday, clashing with security forces and ending months of relative calm just days after Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhemi’s government came to power. The protests first erupted in Baghdad and Shiite-majority southern cities in October, demanding an end to corruption and unemployment and an overhaul of the ruling class
AFP via Getty
3/50 10 May 2020
A man wearing a mask walks his dog in Madrid during the hours allowed by the government to exercise. Spain’s two biggest cities, Madrid and Barcelona, will not enter the next phase out of coronavirus lockdown along with many other regions next week
AFP via Getty
4/50 9 May 2020
Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the nation after laying flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin wall in Moscow, Russia. Russia marks the 75th anniversary since the capitulation of Nazi Germany in WWII amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic
EPA
5/50 8 May 2020
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of the German Parliament Bundestag Wolfgang Schaeuble, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Council Bundesrat in Germany Dietmar Woidke and the presiding judge of the German Federal Constitutional Court’s second senate, Andreas Vosskuhle attend wreath-laying ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War Two, at the Neue Wache Memorial in Berlin. Countries in Europe are commemorating the Victory in Europe Day, known as VE Day that celebrates Nazi Germany’s surrender during World World II on 8 May 1945
EPA
6/50 7 May 2020
A policeman uses his baton to push a resident breaking rules, during an extended nationwide lockdown to slow down the spread of coronavirus in Ahmedabad, India
Reuters
7/50 6 May 2020
A nurse tends to a crying newborn baby wearing a face shield at the National Maternity Hospital in Hanoi
AFP via Getty
8/50 5 May 2020
Bride Janine runs over to her wedding at a Drive-in cinema in Duesseldorf, Germany. The Drive-in theatre started to register official marriages on a stage, allowing all relatives and friends to attend in their cars, as weddings at the registry office are limited due to the coronavirus pandemic
AP
9/50 4 May 2020
Storekeepers asking for the reopening of shops and commercial activities gather for a flashmob protest on Piazza San Marco in Venice, as Italy starts to ease its lockdown
AFP via Getty
10/50 3 May 2020
A street vendor wearing a protective face mask waits for customers in Chinatown, after the government started opening some restaurants outside shopping malls, parks, and barbershops in Bangkok, Thailand
Reuters
11/50 2 May 2020
Two women carry longboards on an esplanade in Barcelona, during the hours allowed by the government to exercise, for the first time since the beginning of a national lockdown. All Spaniards are again allowed to leave their homes since today to walk or play sports after 48 days of very strict confinement to curb the coronavirus pandemic
AFP via Getty
12/50 1 May 2020
A girl, wearing a protective mask, plays with bubbles at a shopping mall in Gimpo, South Korea
Reuters
13/50 30 April 2020
Buddhist monks wearing face masks pray during Buddha’s birthday at the Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul, South Korea
AP
14/50 29 April 2020
A visitor in a plexiglass lock talks to a resident at Les Jardins d’Astrid, a rest home in Maurage, La Louviere, on April 29, 2020, as the visits to residents of rest homes are possible from today in Wallonia. – Belgium is in its seventh week of confinement in the ongoing corona virus crisis. The government has announced a phased plan to attempt an exit from the lockdown situation in the country, continuing to avoid the spread of Co-19
Belga/AFP/Getty
15/50 28 April 2020
A demonstrator is seen near a bank on fire during unrest, as an economic crisis brings demonstrations back onto the streets in Tripoli, Lebanon April 28, 2020
Reuters
16/50 27 April 2020
A medical specialist walks out of a mobile laboratory, which is carrying out coronavirus tests
Reuters
17/50 26 April 2020
People wearing protective face masks practice social distancing as they pray outside a church in Kiev near the memorial dedicated to firefighters and workers who died after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, on the 34th anniversary of the event
Reuters
18/50 25 April 2020
Surfers walk during a sunrise at Recreio dos Bandeirantes beach, amid the coronavirus outbreak, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Reuters
19/50 24 April 2020
Inmates from Villa Devoto prison take part in a riot demanding measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus after a case was confirmed inside the prison, in Buenos Aires
AFP via Getty
20/50 23 April 2020
The cruise ship Ruby Princess departs from Port Kembla, south of Sydney, , after a few hundred virus-free crew members disembarked to begin the process of repatriation to their home countries
AFP/Getty
21/50 22 April 2020
An activist performs on the roof during Earth Day in Wroclaw, Poland
Agencja Gazeta via Reuters
22/50 21 April 2020
Malaysian army personnel set up barbed wire in the locked down area of Selayang wholesale market in Kuala Lumpur
EPA
23/50 20 April 2020
A trader walks inside a pen as he arrives to purchase vegetables and fruits at the Agricultural Produce Market Committee market in Navi Mumbai during the nationwide lockdown
AFP via Getty
24/50 19 April 2020
A bride, poses for a wedding photographer next to East Lake in Wuhan
AFP via Getty
25/50 18 April 2020
People shout at police officers during a demonstration of conspiracy theorists as other demonstrators protest against the lockdown imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Berlin
Reuters
26/50 17 April 2020
A pair of rare morepork owl chicks have become the first in more than a decade to survive on Norfolk Island, in the South Pacific
Parks Australia/Monash University
27/50 16 April 2020
A squirrel runs across a fence as the sun shines in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district
AFP via Getty
28/50 15 April 2020
Election officials count after general election voting in Seoul, South Korea
EPA
29/50 14 April 2020
Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was damaged in a devastating fire one year ago today
Reuters
30/50 13 April 2020
Wild bluebells, which bloom around mid-April turning the forest blue as they form a carpet, pictured in the Hallerbos in Belgium
Reuters
31/50 12 April 2020
Pope Francis delivers his Urbi et Orbi message following Easter Sunday Mass behind closed doors at St Peter’s Basilica in The Vatican, during the country’s lockdown
Vatican media/AFP via Getty
32/50 11 April 2020
A man watches Krakatau spewing ash during an eruption, in Serang, Indonesia’s Banten province
AFP via Getty
33/50 10 April 2020
Women queue for distribution of food for those suffering under Kenya’s coronavirus-related movement restrictions
AP
34/50 9 April 2020
Firefighter Sittiporn Singthong, dressed up as Spider-Man, sprays disinfectant at the Wat Tha Mai Buddhist temple in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand
EPA
35/50 8 April 2020
Tulip fields in Plomeur, western France
AFP via Getty
36/50 7 April 2020
A employee and a resident of the house for the elderly “De Ravenstein” react as nurses dance and sing in the garden, following the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Boortmeerbeek, Belgium
Reuters
37/50 6 April 2020
A man stands in the balcony of his home with the moon in the background in Cali, Colombia
AFP via Getty
38/50 5 April 2020
A man holds a traditional lamp from the balcony of his house as torches and candles illuminate houses and high rise residential buildings as Indians mark the country’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic a suburb of New Delhi, India
AP
39/50 4 April 2020
Medical staff load an infected patient into an ambulance at the Nimes air base, south of France, during an evacuation operation from the hard-hit east of the country where hospitals are overwhelmed
AFP
40/50 3 April 2020
A man prays inside the closed Moussawi Grand Mosque in Basra
AFP via Getty
41/50 2 April 2020
A City Hall health official wearing a protective suit sprays disinfectant at the entrance of City One condominium as the residential building was placed under lockdown after 17 cases of COVID-19 were detected, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
EPA
42/50 1 April 2020
Migrant workers wait on marked areas on the ground to maintain social distancing as they queue to receive food packets at an industrial area during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the Co-19 coronavirus, in Chennai
AFP via Getty
43/50 31 March 2020
Wedding dress and evening wear designer Friederike Jorzig adjusts a mannequin wearing a wedding dress with matching protective mask in her store Chiton in Berlin
AFP via Getty
44/50 30 March 2020
A stray dog walks in front of an empty historic India Gate, as nationwide lockdown continues over the coronavirus in New Delhi, India
Getty
45/50 29 March 2020
A man watches a TV screen showing a file image of North Korea’s missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul
AP
46/50 28 March 2020
Hong Kong’s skyline is seen with some of its lights turned off to mark the Earth Hour, an environmental campaign
AFP/Getty
47/50 27 March 2020
Ukrainian citizens queue at the Polish-Ukrainian border during the coronavirus pandemic in Korczowa, Poland. On 13 March, Poland closed its borders due to the ongoing pandemic of the Co-19 and has extended the measure until at least 11 April
EPA
48/50 26 March 2020
Tenon hospital emergency services staff members gesture during a break, on March 26, 2020 in Paris, as the country is under lockdown to stop the spread of Co-19 disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
AFP via Getty
49/50 25 March 2020
Aerial view showing almost empty streets in Bogota, taken during the lockdown ordered by the government to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus
AFP via Getty
50/50 24 March 2020
Staff members line up to attention as they prepare to spray disinfectant at Wuhan Railway Station. China announced that a lockdown would be lifted on more than 50 million people in central Hubei province where the Co-19 coronavirus first emerged late last year
AFP via Getty
1/50 12 May 2020
Nurses wearing face masks take part in an event held to mark International Nurses Day, at Wuhan Tongji Hospital in China
China Daily via Reuters
2/50 11 May 2020
Iraqi protesters gather on the Al-Jumhuriyah bridge in the capital Baghdad during an anti-government demonstration. Modest anti-government rallies resumed in some Iraqi cities Sunday, clashing with security forces and ending months of relative calm just days after Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhemi’s government came to power. The protests first erupted in Baghdad and Shiite-majority southern cities in October, demanding an end to corruption and unemployment and an overhaul of the ruling class
AFP via Getty
3/50 10 May 2020
A man wearing a mask walks his dog in Madrid during the hours allowed by the government to exercise. Spain’s two biggest cities, Madrid and Barcelona, will not enter the next phase out of coronavirus lockdown along with many other regions next week
AFP via Getty
4/50 9 May 2020
Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the nation after laying flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin wall in Moscow, Russia. Russia marks the 75th anniversary since the capitulation of Nazi Germany in WWII amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic
EPA
5/50 8 May 2020
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of the German Parliament Bundestag Wolfgang Schaeuble, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Council Bundesrat in Germany Dietmar Woidke and the presiding judge of the German Federal Constitutional Court’s second senate, Andreas Vosskuhle attend wreath-laying ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War Two, at the Neue Wache Memorial in Berlin. Countries in Europe are commemorating the Victory in Europe Day, known as VE Day that celebrates Nazi Germany’s surrender during World World II on 8 May 1945
EPA
6/50 7 May 2020
A policeman uses his baton to push a resident breaking rules, during an extended nationwide lockdown to slow down the spread of coronavirus in Ahmedabad, India
Reuters
7/50 6 May 2020
A nurse tends to a crying newborn baby wearing a face shield at the National Maternity Hospital in Hanoi
AFP via Getty
8/50 5 May 2020
Bride Janine runs over to her wedding at a Drive-in cinema in Duesseldorf, Germany. The Drive-in theatre started to register official marriages on a stage, allowing all relatives and friends to attend in their cars, as weddings at the registry office are limited due to the coronavirus pandemic
AP
9/50 4 May 2020
Storekeepers asking for the reopening of shops and commercial activities gather for a flashmob protest on Piazza San Marco in Venice, as Italy starts to ease its lockdown
AFP via Getty
10/50 3 May 2020
A street vendor wearing a protective face mask waits for customers in Chinatown, after the government started opening some restaurants outside shopping malls, parks, and barbershops in Bangkok, Thailand
Reuters
11/50 2 May 2020
Two women carry longboards on an esplanade in Barcelona, during the hours allowed by the government to exercise, for the first time since the beginning of a national lockdown. All Spaniards are again allowed to leave their homes since today to walk or play sports after 48 days of very strict confinement to curb the coronavirus pandemic
AFP via Getty
12/50 1 May 2020
A girl, wearing a protective mask, plays with bubbles at a shopping mall in Gimpo, South Korea
Reuters
13/50 30 April 2020
Buddhist monks wearing face masks pray during Buddha’s birthday at the Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul, South Korea
AP
14/50 29 April 2020
A visitor in a plexiglass lock talks to a resident at Les Jardins d’Astrid, a rest home in Maurage, La Louviere, on April 29, 2020, as the visits to residents of rest homes are possible from today in Wallonia. – Belgium is in its seventh week of confinement in the ongoing corona virus crisis. The government has announced a phased plan to attempt an exit from the lockdown situation in the country, continuing to avoid the spread of Co-19
Belga/AFP/Getty
15/50 28 April 2020
A demonstrator is seen near a bank on fire during unrest, as an economic crisis brings demonstrations back onto the streets in Tripoli, Lebanon April 28, 2020
Reuters
16/50 27 April 2020
A medical specialist walks out of a mobile laboratory, which is carrying out coronavirus tests
Reuters
17/50 26 April 2020
People wearing protective face masks practice social distancing as they pray outside a church in Kiev near the memorial dedicated to firefighters and workers who died after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, on the 34th anniversary of the event
Reuters
18/50 25 April 2020
Surfers walk during a sunrise at Recreio dos Bandeirantes beach, amid the coronavirus outbreak, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Reuters
19/50 24 April 2020
Inmates from Villa Devoto prison take part in a riot demanding measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus after a case was confirmed inside the prison, in Buenos Aires
AFP via Getty
20/50 23 April 2020
The cruise ship Ruby Princess departs from Port Kembla, south of Sydney, , after a few hundred virus-free crew members disembarked to begin the process of repatriation to their home countries
AFP/Getty
21/50 22 April 2020
An activist performs on the roof during Earth Day in Wroclaw, Poland
Agencja Gazeta via Reuters
22/50 21 April 2020
Malaysian army personnel set up barbed wire in the locked down area of Selayang wholesale market in Kuala Lumpur
EPA
23/50 20 April 2020
A trader walks inside a pen as he arrives to purchase vegetables and fruits at the Agricultural Produce Market Committee market in Navi Mumbai during the nationwide lockdown
AFP via Getty
24/50 19 April 2020
A bride, poses for a wedding photographer next to East Lake in Wuhan
AFP via Getty
25/50 18 April 2020
People shout at police officers during a demonstration of conspiracy theorists as other demonstrators protest against the lockdown imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Berlin
Reuters
26/50 17 April 2020
A pair of rare morepork owl chicks have become the first in more than a decade to survive on Norfolk Island, in the South Pacific
Parks Australia/Monash University
27/50 16 April 2020
A squirrel runs across a fence as the sun shines in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district
AFP via Getty
28/50 15 April 2020
Election officials count after general election voting in Seoul, South Korea
EPA
29/50 14 April 2020
Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was damaged in a devastating fire one year ago today
Reuters
30/50 13 April 2020
Wild bluebells, which bloom around mid-April turning the forest blue as they form a carpet, pictured in the Hallerbos in Belgium
Reuters
31/50 12 April 2020
Pope Francis delivers his Urbi et Orbi message following Easter Sunday Mass behind closed doors at St Peter’s Basilica in The Vatican, during the country’s lockdown
Vatican media/AFP via Getty
32/50 11 April 2020
A man watches Krakatau spewing ash during an eruption, in Serang, Indonesia’s Banten province
AFP via Getty
33/50 10 April 2020
Women queue for distribution of food for those suffering under Kenya’s coronavirus-related movement restrictions
AP
34/50 9 April 2020
Firefighter Sittiporn Singthong, dressed up as Spider-Man, sprays disinfectant at the Wat Tha Mai Buddhist temple in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand
EPA
35/50 8 April 2020
Tulip fields in Plomeur, western France
AFP via Getty
36/50 7 April 2020
A employee and a resident of the house for the elderly “De Ravenstein” react as nurses dance and sing in the garden, following the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Boortmeerbeek, Belgium
Reuters
37/50 6 April 2020
A man stands in the balcony of his home with the moon in the background in Cali, Colombia
AFP via Getty
38/50 5 April 2020
A man holds a traditional lamp from the balcony of his house as torches and candles illuminate houses and high rise residential buildings as Indians mark the country’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic a suburb of New Delhi, India
AP
39/50 4 April 2020
Medical staff load an infected patient into an ambulance at the Nimes air base, south of France, during an evacuation operation from the hard-hit east of the country where hospitals are overwhelmed
AFP
40/50 3 April 2020
A man prays inside the closed Moussawi Grand Mosque in Basra
AFP via Getty
41/50 2 April 2020
A City Hall health official wearing a protective suit sprays disinfectant at the entrance of City One condominium as the residential building was placed under lockdown after 17 cases of COVID-19 were detected, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
EPA
42/50 1 April 2020
Migrant workers wait on marked areas on the ground to maintain social distancing as they queue to receive food packets at an industrial area during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the Co-19 coronavirus, in Chennai
AFP via Getty
43/50 31 March 2020
Wedding dress and evening wear designer Friederike Jorzig adjusts a mannequin wearing a wedding dress with matching protective mask in her store Chiton in Berlin
AFP via Getty
44/50 30 March 2020
A stray dog walks in front of an empty historic India Gate, as nationwide lockdown continues over the coronavirus in New Delhi, India
Getty
45/50 29 March 2020
A man watches a TV screen showing a file image of North Korea’s missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul
AP
46/50 28 March 2020
Hong Kong’s skyline is seen with some of its lights turned off to mark the Earth Hour, an environmental campaign
AFP/Getty
47/50 27 March 2020
Ukrainian citizens queue at the Polish-Ukrainian border during the coronavirus pandemic in Korczowa, Poland. On 13 March, Poland closed its borders due to the ongoing pandemic of the Co-19 and has extended the measure until at least 11 April
EPA
48/50 26 March 2020
Tenon hospital emergency services staff members gesture during a break, on March 26, 2020 in Paris, as the country is under lockdown to stop the spread of Co-19 disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
AFP via Getty
49/50 25 March 2020
Aerial view showing almost empty streets in Bogota, taken during the lockdown ordered by the government to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus
AFP via Getty
50/50 24 March 2020
Staff members line up to attention as they prepare to spray disinfectant at Wuhan Railway Station. China announced that a lockdown would be lifted on more than 50 million people in central Hubei province where the Co-19 coronavirus first emerged late last year
AFP via Getty
A judge at Famagusta District Court in Paralimni in January ruled the young woman, whose identity has not been revealed, had lied to police about the alleged assault on 17 July.
The 19-year-old, who spent four and a half weeks in a prison in the capital Nicosia over the summer, was handed a four-month prison term suspended for three years.
But the teen, who was trapped in Cyprus for almost five months, maintains she was forced by officers to sign a confession withdrawing the rape complaint.
“I can’t remember the exact feeling of hearing that,” the young woman says of the moment she realised the police did not believe her allegations of gang rape. “Just it was hours of me in and out of this state of literal panic attacks where I couldn’t breathe, because it’s just not the truth. It’s not. It’s not.”
Watch more
The teenager, who is known as Emily in the documentary, added: ”There is no doubt in my mind that in the end, be it a year down the line, be it 50 years down the line. I will achieve justice.”
No hype, just the advice and analysis you need
Jacob, a British man, who ran into the girl with a group of Israelis shortly after the alleged attack recalled coming across them.
“One of them had his arms over her shoulders as if to pull her close and the two were almost standing either side of her so she had nowhere to move,” he said. “So I said, ‘What are you doing?’ They didn’t reply and they started walking away. She’s crying.”
The dozen Israelis, aged between 15 and 20, were released without charge.
Charlotte, the alleged victim’s roommate, described how she found her friend after the saga, adding: “She was in such a traumatic state and like crying and bruises all over her body. It was a horrible sight.”
She continued: “She was scared what they were going to do. And we finally got her in the police car and she literally just curled in a ball with her head on my lap crying her eyes out.”
The alleged victim claimed lead investigating officer, Sergeant Marios Christou, pressured her into saying she had lied and also threatened to have both her and her friends arrested.
Watch more
The teenager said after being in custody for more than six hours, she eventually agreed to pen a statement saying she had lied about the gang rape.
“He gave me word for word what he wanted me to write out and naturally in my brain, I would correct what he’s trying to say,” she said of Sergeant Christou. “So there’s one instance in the first line, something like, ‘at Ayia Napa’ — that’s what he wanted me to put. But naturally, I corrected that to, ‘in Ayia Napa’. And he was so angry that I had done that, he shouted at me and he made me scribble it out and then sign it to say I’d scribbled it out and then write, ‘at Ayia Napa’.”
Michael Polak, a British human rights lawyer who is director of Justice Abroad, a legal aid group proing help to the teen’s family, told The Independent there was “an alarming lack of any proper procedure and thorough investigation into her rape complaint”.
Mr Pollak added: “The programme also looks into the situation in which the teenager found herself when she was taken to the police station and kept there for over six hours without a lawyer or translator, and where she states that immense pressure was placed upon her to retract her allegation. This is not the only case which has been reported to us where such tactics have been used by the police.
“It is beyond belief that in Cyprus interrogations in a police station can take place without any or audio recording and without a lawyer. This creates the perfect atmosphere for undue pressure to be placed upon those who are vulnerable.
“We believe that this programme will allow viewers to gain a fuller understanding as to what has taken place in this case and how the teenager’s dream trip to the Mediterranean quickly turned into a nightmare.”
Mr Pollak said he hopes the Cypriot Supreme Court will recognise the clear breaches of the teen’s rights under European Union law, European Human Rights Law, and Cypriot law when the matter comes before it later this year — adding that they will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights if justice cannot be achieved in Cyprus.
In October, a court heard the group of young Israeli men had been “aggressively” planning to have sex with the woman. The men were heard plotting in a “very bad way” to “do orgies” with the teenager, the court was told.
The police in Cyprus and Sergeant Christou have vehemently denied all allegations of misconduct.
ITV’s new documentary which is titled Believe Me: The Cyprus Rape Case will be broadcast on Tuesday at 10.45pm
