HAMPSHIRE Constabulary has apologised and awarded a rape victim £20,000 after admitting that she had been wrongly treated during an investigation.

The 17-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested by the force in 2012 on suspicion of perverting the course of justice and tried to kill herself as a result.

She was arrested after reporting the attack and forensic tests were carried out on her clothes but did not return a result.

Eventually the Crown Prosecution Service ordered new tests and her attacker was jailed for five years in 2013 and has been put on the sexual offenders register.

Police have now agreed to pay the woman £20,000 after she began proceedings against them under the Human Rights Act.

In a statement released by the police today, Chief Superintendent David Powell, head of prevention and neighbourhoods, apologised for the hurt caused to the victim.

He said: “Our initial assessment and handling of this case in 2012 was very poor and we are not proud of our initial response. We have already personally apologised to the victim and her mother; and I repeat here now that we are sorry for how we let her down.

“Once I became aware of what had happened, I immediately ordered a new investigation working very closely with the victim.

"By quickly taking these steps, we were able to provide the right investigative response with supportive and compassionate officers to obtain the evidence required which secured the prosecution and conviction of this offender.”

He said that action had been taken at the time by referring the case to the force’s Professional Standards Department, with one officer receiving a written warning for misconduct and 10 officers have been given management action.

A specialist dedicated unit has also been set up to provide additional training for rape investigations and for work with vulnerable victims.

Chief Superintendent Powell added: “I would like to reassure all victims of sexual assault that we do take you seriously.

“We do believe you, we appreciate how hard it is to come forward to report these offences, we do not judge you and we are committed to ensuring a professional and supportive response.

"We are doing everything to ensure we never have an initial response like this again.”