Lisa-Jayne Samuels, 29, told police a man had spiked her drink and then attacked her - and even drew up an e-fit of a suspect
A mum-of-four who lied about being raped because she wanted her family to feel sorry for her has been jailed.
Lisa-Jayne Samuels, 29, falsely accused a man of having spiked her drink and attacked her in October 2012.
It led to the arrest of innocent Terry Brown who endured more than a year of suspicion before Samuels finally admitted she had made the whole thing up, a court heard.
During that time, Mr Brown was attacked by a gang and his pregnant partner lost her baby, Basildon Crown Court was told.
Samuels, whose actions were described as "loathsome" by her own lawyer, had been homeless and in the grip of drug addiction when she made the false claim.
She hoped her own mother would feel sorry for her and the incident would rekindle their relationship, the court heard.
Samuels called 999 at 1am claiming to have been raped at the cliffs in Southend, Essex, and identified her attacker to the police.
When interviewed, she gave a detailed description of the non-existent rapist, claiming she had been drinking with friends at a pub where she met a man she knew from a night shelter who spiked her drink and attacked her.
An e-fit was drawn up and Mr Brown, of Basildon, Essex, was arrested the following year.
But he was later released without charge after police uncovered inconsistencies in Samuels' story.
CCTV showed no sign of Samuels at the time and place she was supposed to have been at the pub, and the friends she had spoken of did not to exist.
During a voluntary interview with Samuels on December 6, 2013, she eventually admitted to making up the whole story.
She pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and was imprisoned for 20 months.
All her children have been taken into care.
Sentencing Samuels, Recorder Anthony Abell said: "Rape is one of the most serious and repulsive crimes there is.
"A false allegation of rape can have dreadful consequences on the innocent person who has committed no crime whatsoever.
"It seems your initial call to the police was an impulsive act but you persisted in it, you made an e-fit and identified your supposed attacker in a line up -that was not impulsive. I have a duty to the public, meaning your sentence must be immediate and must be of some length. "
Samuels has struggled with addiction to alcohol and problems with drugs, including crack cocaine, the court heard.
Her defence solicitor, Paul Vickers, tried to argue her sentence should be suspended.
He said: "She accepts what she has done was loathsome and describes her actions as stupid.
"You are dealing with a lady who was homeless, intoxicated and in the grip of an addiction, who botched a scheme to enable her to get the support of her mother, to try to get her to feel sorry for her and to take her back and to rebuild her relationship with her."
Samuels will serve up to half her sentence in prison before being released on licence.