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Jailed: Kay Hoofe, who lied about being raped, was found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justiceA young mother who falsely claimed she had been gang raped has been jailed for six months.
Kay Hoofe - a mother of three, including a nine-week-old baby - lied about being attacked after police were contacted by her mother.
The court heard that Hoofe claimed she had been raped so the father of her two youngest children would get back together with her.
The lies led to one of her alleged attackers being threatened by members of the community. He voluntarily went to police to give his side of the story.
A court heard that the false claims caused him problems with a contact application over his child - although they were resolved when Hoofe's lies were exposed.
The gang rape never took place and Hoofe, 24, of Briar Grove, Leigh, had consensual sex with the man quizzed about the 'attack'.
Rob Altham, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that in August, police received a call claiming Hoofe had been raped by five men.
Officers visited her and she said that the previous night she had been in a Leigh pub with a friend, who left. She went to another pub to buy cigarettes.
Mr Altham said she claimed she was forced down a side street by five men who began to attack her.
He said she had claimed that two of the men raped her in the street. Afterwards they called a taxi and went back with her to her home.
While there, she was raped again before the men left, she claimed.
She repeated her allegations to officers and gave four names. The court heard that people in the community accused one man of raping her. He went to police to give his version of events. He was interviewed under caution but not arrested.
Officers studied CCTV footage and found nothing to support Hoofe's story, and witnesses did not support her allegation. She was interviewed under caution and initially maintained her story but later admitted she had been lying.
She pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The court heard that Hoofe had consensual sex with the man but claimed she had been raped so the father of her two youngest children would get back together with her.
Richard Dawson, defending, said she never intended the false allegation be brought to police attention. Her mother overheard her arguing with her partner about the rape claim and without Hoofe's knowledge rang police.
'Hoofe did not know how to extricate herself from the situation and made this ludicrous suggestion,'he said.
Detective Sergeant Nigel Rigby, of Wigan CID, said: 'This web of lies could have had dire consequences for Hoofe's alleged attackers. The stigma of being accused of an awful sex attack is not easy to shake off.
'For somebody to make up a story and falsely claim they have been raped completely undermines genuine victims.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1275643/Mother-jailed-making-false-gang-rape-claims--win-lover.html#ixzz0nQy9mi9o