A Londoner will spend her next six years in a notorious Hong Kong jail after she was found guilty of making up a rape accusation and trying to blackmail a banker.
Isabel Rose, 26, from Hackney, east London, was found guilty of blackmail and perverting the course of public justice on Wednesday in a Hong Kong court.
Her six-year sentence comes after Rose filed a police report claiming she was raped by a banker – named only as X – in his high rise apartment in the early hours of February 1, 2024.
Her case centred around WhatsApp messages exchanged between Rose and the banker after the alleged sex assault.
In messages read out in District Court, Rose wrote to him: ‘You violated me last night, I didn’t wanna have sex.’
He replied: ‘I am deeply sorry. I was slightly drunk and I misread your signals, it’s no excuse and I know it doesn’t make it any better.’
The man later backtracked this apparent admission, telling the court he misunderstood Rose’s use of the word ‘violated’ to refer to an emotional violation rather than a rape allegation.
He insisted he incorrectly read the message in two parts.
Isabel Rose has always maintained her innocence.
District Court Judge Adriana Tse said the banker had been ‘nothing but kind to the defendant’ and Rose had ‘taken advantage of his kindness, naivety, friendship and romantic interest’.
A judge stated that it was ‘crystal clear’ that the 26-year-old had demanded £100,000 from the man she accused of rape.
Rose’s lawyer’s pleas for leniency based on her clean criminal record and status as a foreigner in Hong Kong were rejected by the judge.
For the last two years before her trial, the Brit was unable to work or leave Hong Kong.
The authorities arrested the man, who was referred to as X in the case, on suspicion of rape.
The man was never charged.
The judge described X as an ‘honest, credible and reliable witness’, whilst the Brit was labelled ‘dishonest, uncredible and unreliable’ the Hong Kong Free Press reported.
She said her lawyers had mentioned Rose’s good character, pointing to the fact that she had no criminal record in the UK or Hong Kong. But Tse said this was not a mitigating factor.
‘In the present case, good character is mere absence of convictions,’ Tse said, adding there was ‘nothing exemplary.’
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: ‘We take reports of this nature extremely seriously and remain committed to investigating all allegations thoroughly.
‘However, we have been unable to pursue relevant lines of enquiry in relation to this particular allegation due to a lack of jurisdiction in the relevant country. Should circumstances change, we will pursue all relevant enquiries.’
After the trial, Rose was sent to Tai Lam Correctional Institution – Hong Kong’s oldest maximum security women’s prison.
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