A north-east woman has avoided being locked up after admitting lying about being raped.
Abbie Will, 20, was suffering from an undiagnosed personality disorder when she told police she had been sexually attacked.
Officers investigating the claim soon realised the allegation was not true after checking CCTV and spotting her in a supermarket at the time of the alleged crime.
Yesterday she was handed a three-year supervision order as an alternative to custody by Sheriff Morag McLaughlin when she appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Will, of Fordyce Avenue, New Deer, previously pled guilty to making a false representation to police that someone had raped her during the evening of December 22 2016.
Defence solicitor John Hardie told the court: “At that point Ms Will was extremely young, living independently for the first time away from her family.”
Explaining the run-up to the incident, he said: “She contacted NHS 24. They advised her to go to hospital and make a disclosure to a nurse on the understanding it’s confidential.
“The nurse, due to her duty of care, discloses that to police officers.
“There are police there because they are concerned for her wellbeing.
“The police then ask her about that disclosure to the nurse and she refuses to repeat it to the police.
“It’s a day or two later she’s at Peterhead Police Office and she makes this allegation.”
Mr Hardie said: “The person named by Ms Will is not interviewed as a suspect, he’s interviewed as a witness against her.
“It’s clearly a very serious offence, I don’t seek to minimise that.”
He added his client had an “undiagnosed personality disorder”.
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Mr Hardie said: “She’s actively trying to stabilise her life. She certainly feels that there’s something wrong with her that she’d like to have addressed.”
Sheriff McLaughlin said: “I’m going to make you subject to supervision but with a mental health treatment requirement.
“You need to understand that’s a direct alternative to custody.”
The court previously heard Will told police that she had been walking beside Peterhead Academy when a man hit her over the head before sexually assaulting her.
Her claims sparked a police investigation – requiring them to deploy resources including liaison officers and conduct an in-depth medical exam.
But Will’s lies began to unravel when they reviewed surveillance footage of her actions that day to back up her claims.
Officers found her on CCTV shopping in the city’s Morrison’s store at the time she was supposedly attacked.
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