A SOUTHAMPTON woman has been jailed after making her eleventh false claim that she had been raped.

Her latest victim was arrested and quizzed for nine hours before being released without charge.

Police launched an investigation after Elizabeth Jones instigated a friend to report she had been assaulted.

Jones later went to the police station for a medical examination and repeated her allegation.

Prosecutor Jennie Rickman told the city crown court a man was arrested but he denied the rape allegation.

As part of their investigation, detectives later viewed CCTV covering part of the house in which she claimed to have been attacked and it did not support her story – and showed she had not been forcibly taken there.

“There is a history of her making false allegations of this nature and this is the 11th incident,” said Ms Rickman.

“Police had to take her allegation seriously and carried out an appropriate investigation. She was later arrested and accepted she had lied about being raped. She said she did it because she did not like him.”

The court heard she had made her first false claim in 2004 when she received a referral order and in 2009 she was given a ten month detention and training order for a similar offence. Between 2005 and 2007 she had made eight other allegations, which the police investigated but she did not face court proceedings.

Jones, 22, of Paignton Road, Southampton, admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice and was jailed for 16 months.

Passing sentence, Judge Derwin Hope said the offence was not only serious because of “the terrible emotional experience” the man she accused had to endure, but also because it struck at the heart of the criminal justice system.

In mitigation, Megan Topliss spoke of her disturbed childhood and the impact of being in care. She immediately accepted she had lied when seen by the police and had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. Jones, Ms Topliss added, had also been referred to a drug rehabilitation agency in Southampton.