June 16, 1973: A young mother is allegedly gang raped by Hell’s Angels on the beach at Ramsgate. Police launch a massive investigation. Then she admits she made it all up! Her retraction earns her a big splash on the front page of the East Kent Times and Mail INCORPORATING THE Thanet Advertiser & Echo, September 21, 1973 where she is identified as Christine Webb. It is reported she had pleaded guilty to wasting police time. (She was lucky not to have been charged with something more serious, as will soon become clear).
She makes the front page of the same newspaper again on October 12, a small report at the bottom of the page says 55 police officers had been engaged on the investigation, and she had changed her plea to not guilty!
The date of this non-rape has also been given as June 17. My interpretation is that she claimed it happened on June 16 when she reported it the following day.
So what actually happened? The full truth was revealed on the front page of the same paper, November 9, 1973 which reported on the court proceedings of the previous day.
Mrs Webb worked as an amusement arcade cashier. After work, she went for a walk with a co-worker. A walk and something else! Afterwards, she told her employer she had been raped, and asked to be taken home. She was kept at the police station until 7.30am.
To make matters worse, she identified another co-worker as a rapist or one of the imaginary rapists, and he was arrested. She pointed the finger at him because he had been abusive to her that day – it was his fault! Finally, the man with whom she’d had sex was arrested, and he admitted to a consensual encounter.
She ended up with a six month sentence suspended for a year. Be a good girl and don’t do it again.
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