Ayia Napa ‘gang-rape’ student claims cops made her sign dodgy confession that she faked allegations against 12 Israelis

A BRITISH teenager accused of falsely claiming she was gang-raped in Cyprus is insisting police dictated her confession — then ordered her to sign it.

The student, 19, faces a year in jail if found guilty of making up the allegations against 12 Israelis.

But she says she was denied a lawyer and then pressurised to withdraw her complaint by detectives, who threatened to arrest her friends for “conspiracy” if she did not comply.

The teenager claims officers then dictated a statement in which she admitted faking allegations — and she reluctantly signed only because she was exhausted after eight hours at the police station.

None of the interviews were recorded — a basic requirement under UK law.

Her fight to clear her name has been taken up by British barrister Michael Polak, backed by an ex-Foreign Office diplomat and former Detective Superintendent David Swindle.

Mr Polak, of campaign group Justice Abroad, said: “The confession was obtained under oppression given the threats made. She was not cautioned and was not given access to a lawyer as was her right under the European Convention on Human rights.

“Further, the teenager was not told she could leave the police station nor given the option of leaving at any point.

“It is also understood that unfortunately none of the proceedings at the Cypriot police station were recorded.”

TEEN'S FRANTIC MESSAGE

Minutes before she was charged, the girl sent a frantic message to friends that broke off mid-sentence.

She wrote: “It’s crazy. They wouldn’t let me talk to anyone.

“I said I have a right to have a lawyer here. Not in Cyprus, maybe the UK not Cyprus.

“They’ve honestly made me sign false . . . ”

The teenager’s arrest just over a week ago came 11 days after she claimed she had been gang-raped in a hotel room in Ayia Napa — a resort infamous for the drunken, uninhibited behaviour of young tourists.

BRIT TEEN'S ACCOUNT

She told police she was having a holiday fling with one of the Israelis and had twice had sex with him previously.

On the night of the alleged attack, she said they went to his shared room.

A number of other Israelis are understood to have been in the room at the time but it is uncertain how many were there when the pair arrived.

The couple had sex but the British teenager said her partner became violent. She wept and begged him to stop.

She claimed he refused, then invited his friends to join in. She told police she finally fled naked and found her friends.

CYPRUS ARRESTS

Police arrested the 12 Israelis, aged between 16 and 19, and took DNA samples.

Five were later released but seven remained under arrest — until they too were freed after the teenager was asked to return to the police station.

The girl, still feeling the effects of medication doctors gave her, said police initially said they wanted to take another statement.

She went to the station voluntarily — only to find herself accused of inventing the attack. The student claims one officer warned her that police would go after her friends if she did not confess.

She messaged them to say: “Bad things with police.

“They think it’s a conspiracy and they threatened an international arrest warrant to arrest you all for it.”

One friend replied: “WTF. What the hell.”

The teenager said she held out against signing the dictated confession but eventually gave in. She was charged at 2.30am.

Within hours police announced she had changed her story not once but twice — first withdrawing her rape claim and then saying she had been filmed without consent.

ISRAELIS RELEASED

The Israelis were released and allowed to fly home.

But footage of them celebrating at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport by drinking champagne and chanting “The Brit is a whore” triggered an angry reaction among Jewish commentators.

Jewish Chronicle columnist Miriam Shaviv described the group as “scumbags who treated a woman like a piece of meat.” A grainy sex recording from the night of the alleged attack was also leaked to the Israeli media.

It reportedly shows one Is­raeli telling the girl in Hebrew, “You’re my whore. Say you’re my whore.”

When she asks what he is saying, another boy replies: “We are saying you’re sexy.”

QUESTIONS AROUND INVESTIGATION

Police reports of the incident seen by The Sun have also raised further questions about the conduct of the investigation

Medical examinations of two Israelis found “suspicious scratches” and bruises on their backs and chests, as if they had been in a struggle.

They told detectives they had been attacked at the hotel by the girl’s friends.

The hotel’s manager insisted no such fight took place.

An early police report noted how “suspect No1” — the teenager’s holiday fling partner — had changed his story.

Another Israeli recalled meeting five of his friends heading towards the room 30 minutes before the alleged attack occurred.

When suspect No1 was asked what his plans were, he allegedly said the girl was coming to the room for “an orgy.” As his four friends laughed, he is said to have added: “Everyone will have sex with her.”

The teenager, who grew up in rural Derbyshire, is described by friends as popular and “party loving”.

She had been in Ayia Napa on a working holiday for a fortnight before the alleged attack — staying at the two-star Pambos Napa Rocks hotel.

The Israeli group, some having a last break before three years’ military service, were also at the hotel, which is well known for its pool parties. A source said: “They were living it up, ogling the girls round the poolside and shouting things to each other in Hebrew like ‘All English girls are hookers!’”

Photos taken before the alleged attack show the teenager sitting on one Israeli’s lap and posing with another on a night out.

She is now thought to be on remand in a prison awaiting a court hearing on Wednesday.

Local sources say it is likely to be four months until her trial.

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