A 26-year-old woman has been fined £80 for wasting police time after she told officers she had been raped.
Sussex Police received a call from the woman to say that she had been assaulted near Arundel Station shortly before midnight on Saturday.
A full scale police investigation was launched on Sunday morning with police officers scouring the surrounding fields for clues.
Nearby residents described several officers with grass strim- mers cutting back the hedgerow as specialists with blue gloves on their hands and knees picked around for evidence.
However, officers said that the area was no longer a crime scene on Sunday afternoon after receiving fresh information.
The woman was interviewed again on Sunday evening and admitted she had lied.
She was handed an £80 fine for wasting police time.
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