British woman ‘made false gang rape claim because group filmed her having sex’, reports claim

19-year-old remains in custody as group of 12 she accused return to Israel, some reportedly chanting ‘the Brit is a wh***’

A British woman told police she lodged a report that she was gang raped after men filmed her having sex with other members of their group without her consent to do so, reports in Cyprus claim.

The 19-year-old was arrested on Sunday after police said she withdrew an accusation that 12 Israelis raped her in a hotel room in the holiday resort of Ayia Napa in mid-July.

Held on suspicion of public mischief, the woman told investigators she filed the rape report after feeling “angry and insulted” at being filmed without her consent and later kicked out of the hotel room, according to the state-run Cyprus News Agency.

Each of the 12 accused, aged 15 to 18, were arrested on 17 July. Five were released on Thursday and the remaining seven on Sunday, having denied all wrongdoing.

They were reunited with their parents in Israel‘s Ben Gurion Airport and were filmed chanting “Am Yisrael Chai” (the people of Israel lives), and “the Brit is a whore”, the Times of Israel reported.

“We will sue her for the anguish caused and for libel,” Yona Golub, who was one of five detainees released on Thursday, told Israeli media at the airport. “I am walking in the street and people are calling me a rapist.”

The Israelis had come to Cyprus in three separate groups for a holiday before some were to be inducted into the army, and did not know each other previously.

He claimed not to have been in the room at the time and not to know the girl in question, adding: “The truth is out. I told myself, today finally this nightmare ends. I went through tough days. I was happy to hear they were being set free, I was going crazy at home.”

Investigators told a Cypriot court on Friday that the British woman was in a relationship with one of the seven suspects, and had sexual contact with several of the other six over several days, a lawyer defending two of the group said.

Three of the accused admitted to police that they had sex with the woman. The suspects later told Israel’s Channel 12 that she agreed to be filmed and “everything was consensual”.

“She said ‘close the door’, for the children [so they shouldn’t see], she wanted sex,” one of the suspects said.

The Israeli news channel reported the British woman as saying: “I went down from the room and met two of my friends. I told them what had happened and they immediately told me to file a complaint with police.”

She remains in custody in Cyprus after her remand hearing was postponed due to her lawyer not being present.

It is now due to take place on Tuesday at Famagusta District Court in Paralimni.

Additional reporting by agencies