Police cordoned off Cypress Avenue, Ashford, after the false sex assault claim

A girl has admitted crying wolf over a serious sexual assault that never happened.

The 15-year-old, from Ashford, was given a formal reprimand after confessing to making up the attack.

A large-scale police investigation was launched after the schoolgirl claimed she was sexually assaulted on a pathway near Cypress Avenue, Ashford, by a stranger.

Officers made several witness appeals and fliers appealing for information were distributed to homes.

The teenager has since been interviewed under caution on suspicion of wasting police time.

After admitting she made up the attack - said to have happened as she walked home in Godington Park on Wednesday, February 29 - she received a formal reprimand.

DI Lee Whitehead, from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, 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.

"Any allegations proved to be false are also treated seriously and dealt with accordingly. False allegations undermine genuine victims of sexual assault and divert police resources away from what we should be concentrating on."