The hunt for a suspected balaclava-clad sex attacker has been dropped after a woman told police she had made up the allegation.

Last Wednesday she reported that the incident had happened on a footpath which links the Eureka Leisure Park with Bybrook Cemetery and the Kingswood Activity Centre in Ashford.

Officers were told that a man wearing a balaclava had attacked her between 5pm and 5.30pm on Thursday, January 7.

Then last week officers from the Major Crime Department cordoned off the woodland area and searched for evidence of the non-existent crime.

Cyclists and walkers reported seeing the police tape and police vehicles blocking the path, near the Busy Bees nursery and Bannatynes gym.

Det Insp Richard Vickery led the investigation. He said: “I would like to reassure the community that all allegations of this nature are treated seriously and thoroughly investigated.

“Victims of such crimes are always treated with great discretion and sensitivity. We take false allegations equally seriously.

“False allegations undermine genuine victims of sexual assault and divert police resources away from work we should be concentrating on.”

This is not the first incident of police time being wasted over a false sexual assault claim in Ashford.

In December, police received reports that a 16-year-old girl had been seriously sexually assaulted in Nicholas Road, in Kennington.

However, the teenager later admitted she had made the claim up.