Aspiring cop jailed for making false rape claim against cabbie when he refused to accept her kebab-soaked tenner

A criminology student who dreamed of becoming a
police officer has been jailed after she made up a
false rape claim against a cab driver.
Sophie Pointon, 22, told the vicious lie when the
driver refused to accept a kebab-soaked tenner.
Poniton told police officers that she had been sexually
assaulted in the back of the cab she had been picked
up in after a night out in Leeds city centre.
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She rang the cops in the early hours of April 22 this
year then continued the deception by signing a
statement giving an account of the attack.
Leeds Crown Court heard the driver, a father-of-five,
was tracked down and kept in custody for six hours.
He was also unable to work for four weeks as a result
of the claim.
Kate Bisset, prosecuting, said the driver was
interviewed and said he could recall Pointon being
"extremely drunk" when she got into his car holding a
kebab.
He said Pointon threw a £10 pound note at him when
they reached the Hyde Park area but he refused to
accept it as it was covered in oil from the kebab.
The driver said Pointon then became abusive and ran
around the car opening doors.
The prosecutor said: "He did not think much of it at
the time because such incident with people who are
intoxicated are not unusual."
A recording of a conversation between the driver and
a phone operator at his taxi office supported his
account.
The court heard a GPS tracker fitted to the car also
revealed Pointon's description of the taxi journey to
be untrue.
Pointon broke down in tears and asked if she could
drop the charges when her account was challenged
by police.
She pleaded guilty to perverting justice. Denise Breen-
Lawton, mitigating, said Pointon, of Corkland Road,
Manchester, had been studying in Leeds at the time.
She said her hopes of becoming a police officer were
now ruined. She was jailed for 16 months.
Judge Christopher Batty told her: "Your malicious
complaint has done a huge disservice to those
seeking justice through the police and courts."
The driver described in a statement how the false
allegation had caused him to suffer from stress.

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