‘A confession signed by a British student saying she invented a gang rape is ‘highly unlikely’ to have been composed by her, a respected linguist said last night.
It was much more likely to have been the words of a Cypriot policeman dictating what she should write, Dr Andrea Nini said.
The statement – which the Daily Mail can reveal for the first time – is the crux of a case that has sparked a diplomatic incident, with the teenager dragged to court and convicted of lying.
In July, the 19-year-old, in her summer before university, went to police in party resort Ayia Napa to say she had been raped by up to 12 Israeli youths.
She retracted her statement ten days later – under duress, she says, after police on the island ‘threatened’ her.
But rather than being allowed home, she was hauled to court and charged with the crime of ‘public mischief’.
The girl’s shambolic trial, which has led to her being stranded on Cyprus, centred around the statement which she says Detective Sergeant Marios Christou forced out of her after eight hours of questioning without a lawyer.’
