Woman who made false rape claim after having sex with taxi driver faces possible prison term

Chantel Clark, 36, cost the public purse £3,000 after police launched an inquiry following her allegations that she was raped by the driver last May in Midlothian.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that the man was arrested and charged with rape.

It was not before he appeared in front of a court that Ms Clark admitted he had not raped her.

Before Sheriff Alistair Noble, Ms Clark, of Dalkeith, pleaded guilty to the charge of making a false rape claim.

Brent Bissett, depute procurator fiscal, told the court Ms Clark had consensual sex with the man after he picked her up on May 11 at 3:20am last year.

However, when Ms Clark got home she told her husband the driver had raped her.

She then lied to detectives who tracked the driver down and took him into custody.

Mr Bissett said: “The police arrested the man and charged him with rape. He appeared in court the following day.”

Ms Clark then retracted her statement a day after the alleged attack.

When CID was able to get in touch with her she said she had lied and that the taxi driver had not raped her.

Mr Bissett added: “She admitted to officers that she had been lying and that the sexual intercourse had been consensual. She told officers she wished to retract her confession.

“She told the officers that she had felt awful about what she had done and wished to apologise to everybody concerned.”

She was arrested and charged with making a false allegation as well as preventing the police from investigating the real crime.

The procurator fiscal in Edinburgh then marked the case against the driver as “no proceedings”.

Mr Bissett added: “He has said there have been issues with regards to his marriage and business issues with regards to his taxi licence.”

The court heard Ms Clark told officers: “I feel so ashamed. I have been unable to sleep or eat.

“I want to apologise for the problems I have caused.”

Defence solicitor Andrew Houston said the issue had “snowballed” but that Ms Clark had attempted to rectify her lie.

He said she started crying when her husband asked her if she had been raped and replied “yes” but got in touch with police when she realised what she had done.

Sheriff Noble warned her she may be sent to prison as he deferred sentence in order for the court to obtain reports.

He said: “All options are obviously open.”