A SCHOOLGIRL is to receive a police caution after claiming that she had been raped.

The 13-year-old girl said that she had been subjected to the sex attack in the doorway of an alley next to the Purple Onion bar, in Middlesbrough town centre.

After detectives questioned a 23-year-old man about the alleged rape, the girl, who lives at Eaglescliffe, near Stockton, admitted that she had made up the story.

She told police that she had been socialising in the popular nightspot with a friend of the same age when they got separated.

The teenager claimed she had been raped shortly after midnight on Sunday and security cameras filmed a man leaving the Purple Onion at the same time as her.

After a police appeal, the man walked into South Bank police station early on Tuesday. He was questioned and released on bail and the girl was subsequently re-interviewed yesterday.

A spokesman for Cleveland Police said: "Following his version of events, the 13-year-old was seen and admitted making a false allegation. As a result, the complaint has been withdrawn.

"She will be cautioned for wasting police time. Reported incidents of this nature raise the fear of crime. This is a malicious allegation against a member of the public, that diverted a wide range of police resources into investigating an incident which simply did not happen.''

He added: "This was been not only a costly exercise for us, but it blighted the name of this area. The widespread publicity generated by this fictitious allegation paints a bad image of the town which is totally unjustified."

The youngster had told her mother she was sleeping-over at a friend's house.

Police spent many man hours sifting through footage of film by close circuit television cameras around the pub and interviewed customers, staff and visitors to the area.