A Sunday Mercury exclusive has revealed that a teenager who ran up a £40,000 police bill, and tried to incriminate an innocent man with a bogus rape claim, is now trying to sell her story.

Alongside the stark Page One headline NO SHAME the newspaper ran a picture of the 18-year-old with her face blocked out. Inside it criticised the legal loophole which meant that her identity has to remain protected.

In an exclusive interview with Mercury reporter Tony Larner – for which she was NOT paid – the woman told how she made up an allegation of rape in a bid to save her trouble marriage.

More than 50 officers were drafted in after the woman claimed she was raped while walking her dog in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Detectives initially believed the “attack” could have been linked to six other unsolved sex attacks in the area.

The seven-week inquiry, which saw 1,000 people questioned and 100 statements taken, was halted when the woman admitted the claim was false. She said she thought the allegation would bring her closer to her 19-year-old husband who she married two years ago.

She told Mr Larner the bogus rape claim was not initially her idea: “A friend suggested it and asked me to give a description of a man she had a grudge against. Stupidly I agreed. As far as I know, the man was never arrested and was never even a suspect.”

She said the Sarah Payne murder inquiry brought her to her senses and made her realise the police should be working on real crimes.

Although she admitted wasting police time, the Warwickshire police force only issued an official caution instead of seeking a criminal prosecution.

The woman told the Mercury journalist she wanted to use any money she makes from selling her story to move house and make a fresh start. She claimed she would also give some to charity – possibly Victim Support.

While the woman was talking to Mr Larner, he said she tried clinching a cash deal with a news agency over the telephone.

In a page three comment, the Birmingham-based Mercury said that in trying to make money out of the whole sordid business the woman had forfeited whatever slender claim for sympathy she might have made.

It continued: “It ia bitter irony that she enjoys the same protection as a genuine rape victim, thus making a mockery of the whole process. Naming this young woman is clearly in the public interest. There are times when the law protects the wrong people”.