A lying rapist who claimed his victim and her friends pinned him down and subjected him to a sustained sexual attack has been jailed.

Alistair Hitchcock violently assaulted the woman while people slept nearby at a home in Canterbury, following a night out in 2012.

The conniving 33-year-old, of Whitstable Road, would attempt to destroy their lives in a bid to evade the authorities by falsely accusing them of raping him.

Judge Mark Weekes told Hitchcock at Canterbury Crown Court last Thursday: “You struggled roughly with her, you were oblivious to her distress, and you engaged in sexual intercourse of such violence that you inflicted an injury on yourself.

“I am sure that as the years went by you became more fearful of the knock on the door.

“Sadly you chose yet another cowardly option - to lie about what had happened, and to seek to blame falsely entirely innocent people.”

He told Hitchcock he exposed them to the possibility of prosecution, and “chillingly would have been content to see them sent to prison on the back of your lie”.

He praised Hitchcock’s victim, who gave evidence against him, as “articulate” and “brave”.

He said she was “also a survivor and I can hope this verdict to some extent assists in the long recovery process”.

The court heard Hitchcock and the group had been drinking “fairly heavily” together in the city, before returning to the property. He then carried out the “harrowing” attack as people slept.

Reading her victim impact statement standing just metres away from her attacker in the dock, she described how her “world collapsed” after being wrongly accused.

She explained how she felt “extremely alone” and “unable to communicate” during the recovery process.

“It is a malignant thing that is put in you when you are raped, and it wants to end your life,” she said.

“When it comes to this, I feel totally cut off and adrift. I think I’m still grieving and I don’t know when it’s going to stop.”

Hitchcock, wearing a dark blue suit, sat still, leaned slightly forward, and showed no emotion as she spoke.

Mitigating, Sarah Elliott KC described him as hardworking and of previous good character.

But he was sentenced to seven years in prison last week.

Hitchcock must complete two-thirds of the spell, before being considered for parole.

KentOnline overturns court order

A crown court judge has sided with KentOnline in its legal battle over whether a rapist should be named publicly.

When Hitchcock made the bogus rape allegation in 2018 he was automatically granted life-long anonymity by law.

He maintained in police witness statements and under oath he was sexually assaulted.

The move prevented this newspaper from identifying him as the defendant under the Sexual Offences Act.

Then, following his conviction on Thursday, Hitchcock’s barrister Sarah Elliott KC argued his identification “should preclude” after the unanimous guilty verdicts.

But our reporter Sean Axtell argued in court Hitchcock being identified in the press was a matter of important public interest, with his continued anonymity risking a “dangerous precedent” in the future.

“Upholding the prohibition would create a world where rapists know they can cry wolf and point fingers at victims, simply to avoid being named in the press,” he said.

“If these prohibitions exist now and in the future the justice system would be, and excuse the vernacular, a madhouse.”

Danny Moore, who prosecuted during the trial, argued the judge had the power to discharge the anonymity order.

Judge Mark Weekes ruled in favour of allowing KentOnline to reveal Hitchcock’s identity on Monday afternoon.

The judge said he was “satisfied it would be in the public interest” to discharge the restriction.