Jemma Beale, 25, from Bedfont, west London, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for fabricating multiple rape and sexual assault allegations against 10 men over three years. The false claims led to one man being wrongly convicted and jailed for seven years before his conviction was quashed.
Beale was found guilty in July at Southwark Crown Court of four counts of perjury and four counts of perverting the course of justice. Sentencing her on Thursday, Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith described her as a 'very, very convincing liar' who enjoyed being seen as a victim, and said her life was a 'construct of bogus victimhood'.
The court heard that police spent 6,400 hours investigating Beale's claims, costing at least £250,000, with the trial adding a further £109,000. Beale's false allegations included claiming she was raped by nine men and sexually assaulted by six, all strangers, in four separate incidents.
One of her false claims led to the conviction of Mahad Cassim, who was jailed for seven years in 2010 for a rape Beale invented. After doubts emerged, Cassim successfully appealed and his conviction was quashed in July 2015. In a victim impact statement, Cassim said the false claim had a huge impact on his life.
Beale also falsely accused Noam Shahzad of groping her in a pub in 2012, then claimed she was gang-raped by him and others, injuring herself with barbed wire to support her story. She made similar allegations against six other men in 2013.
Judge Loraine-Smith warned that such false allegations risk undermining genuine rape victims and may deter them from coming forward. Beale, who maintains her innocence and is considering an appeal, sat with her arms crossed as the sentence was passed.
