A British teenager found guilty of lying about being gang-raped in Cyprus broke down in tears today and hugged her family as she was spared jail – paving the way for her to return home immediately.

The emotional 19-year-old woman from Derbyshire, who MailOnline has chosen not to name, declared she was ‘relieved’ as she was handed a four-month suspended sentence and will now be allowed to fly back to the UK.

She could have been jailed for up to a year and fined 1,700 euro (£1,500) at Famagusta District Court in Paralimni but will now walk free and be handed back her passport.

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Judge Michelins Papathanasiou decided that the young Briton deserved a ‘second chance’ despite the ‘seriousness of her crime’.

Freeing her he said: ‘Her psychological state, her youth, that she has been away from her family, her friends and academic studies this year. This has led me to decide to give her a second chance and suspend the sentence for three years’.

The woman will appeal to Cyprus’ supreme court to get her conviction overturned but is expected never to return to the Mediterranean island again when she leaves later.

The 19-year old’s mother said her daughter was ‘just relieved’ that she can go home and added: ‘She is innocent’.

Close to tears herself and holding her arms aloft, she said the entire ordeal had been ‘very stressful’ and that the family was looking forward to returning to the UK.

She also said she was very grateful to the intervention by the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab: adding: ‘I spoke with him and he was very supportive. I am grateful to the Foreign Office.’

The mum wore a unicorn broom that had been given to her by one of the protestors who had flown from Israel to show their support for her daughter. She also thanked all the members of the public who had contributed more than £130,000 to a fundraising campaign to help pay legal fees.

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Officials from the British embassy were present in court and it is believed flight arrangements for the girl to return to the UK have already been made.

Speaking on the steps of court afterward her lawyer Lewis Power QC said the family is delighted she would be able to return home – but added her ordeal in Cyprus exposed the ‘gaping chasm’ in the treatment of women abroad who report sex crimes.

Mr. Power said: ‘This has been an incredibly sad and tragic case for a young teenage girl from Derbyshire, a once happy and gregarious young girl who like so many of her age group came over to Cyprus with all the excitement of a young traveller and with high aspirations to attend university thereafter.

‘She was on the cusp of embarking upon a new chapter in her life but under the most dire circumstances, she went overnight from being victim to being the accused having to endure not only the dreadful physical violation of a premeditated gang rape and serious sexual assault perpetrated upon her but also the prolonged mental ordeal under the judicial process in Cyprus, being accused of the offense of public mischief in that this was all a lie to the police.

‘She is adamant of her innocence and that she has told the truth. Whilst we welcome the fact that the sentence imposed today allows her to go home, we strongly contest the conviction and the fight for her innocence will go on regardless.

We will be appealing the conviction and will take this case to the Supreme Court of Cyprus and are prepared to fight this case all the way to the European Court of Human Rights’.

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As the judge finished delivering his sentence the 19-year-old hugged her mum and her three lawyers.

Prior to the judge entering the courtroom, she had smiled as chants from protestors could be clearly be heard.

More than 50 demonstrators had stood outside chanting ‘shame of Cyprus justice’ and ‘Mr. Judge – shame on you, don’t you have a daughter too’.

Court staff was forced to close the windows of the courtroom and pull the blind down but it did little to drown out the noise.

The 19-year-old, dressed in a black sleeveless T-shirt and black trousers stood nervously in the dock twirling her long hair in her hands.

She stepped down briefly from the dock to hug her mother who was close to tears as she waited for Judge Papathanasiou to deliver his verdict.

As the noise of the protestors demanding justice and not prison rippled around the courtroom she smiled.

The judge said he had taken the month the teen had spent in prison into consideration along with her young age.

He also said he had considered that she was on antidepressant medication and that she had been forced to stay in Cyprus for a month while the trial was being carried on.

The judge said the crime of public mischief was a serious offence that had led to 12 people being jailed. He said seven of the Israeli’s had spent 10 days in jail.

He said the crime was one of the oldest on the statute book in Cyprus and should not be treated lightly.

vanguard