Wolverhampton kidnap claim woman fined by police

A woman who claimed she had been kidnapped at gunpoint was caught on CCTV urinating in the street at the time she claimed to have been abducted.

The 22-year-old, from Wolverhampton, dialled 999 claiming three armed men in balaclavas kidnapped and drove her around the city early on Friday.

But CCTV from the time showed the woman urinating in School Street in the city centre.

West Midlands Police issued her with an £80 penalty for wasting their time.

Ch Insp Jo Chilton said: "False reporting distracts officers from their core roles of preventing and detecting actual crime.

"Offenders may not be caught as quickly as they could be and it's the real victims who ultimately suffer."