I came across this case in August 1996 when I saw the magazine (pages linked below) in a newsagent or supermarket. Although I didn’t buy the magazine, I noted it. I returned to it in July 2016 – the month after the Timeline went public – but did not get around to scanning it until June 2023. This entry was added June 26, 2023.
Here is the scan. The title on the front cover is I invented my rapist; its full credits are best 6 AUGUST 1996 ISSUE 31/96 verbatim. I have rescanned the relevant page but the quality is still lacking due to limitations beyond my control.
As the reader can see, Mrs Collard was playing away, got pregnant by her lover, or thought she had, told her husband he had raped her, then...oh dear.
I would have thought a case like this would have generated considerable publicity, but I have searched the regular Internet and several subscription databases without success.
Carol Chambers married Christopher Collard at Newcastle in 1989, so I would assume the incident happened around 1991.
January 16, 1996: A mother of three is allegedly raped in her Huntingdon home. This case on page 48 is somewhat amusing and was widely reported, but the police were not laughing when the truth came out. In September 1995, this woman was allegedly propositioned by a dude while she was drinking coffee in an hotel. She turned him down and he took it badly, following her and sending her threatening letters.
In December, he followed her home. When she challenged him, she was beaten. The following month, while under police protection, he somehow entered her home and raped her for two hours. The pressure group Women Against Rape (who are notorious liars) demanded an inquiry.
One would have thought this dude would have left a trail of forensics a mile wide, from fingerprints on his threatening letters to his semen in her vagina. Alas, on May 17, 1996, THE TIMES reported (on page 2) that she had made the whole thing up but would face no charges.
Here is a more detailed article I found later. It was published in the Evening Mail (Birmingham), May 16, 1996, page 15.
And here is another more detailed article I found even later, again from THE TIMES, May 18, 1996, page 3. Note how this woman is still a victim; she has mental health problems, of course.
The reader might like to compare this case with the later case of fantasist Gail Sherwood, whom it will be seen was treated somewhat more robustly by the authorities.
The other two rape liars in the Best article – Elizabeth Richardson and Cathleen Crowell Webb – can both be found on the Timeline. Crowell has her own page.
The falsely accused David McFadden can be found on the Timeline at February 10, 1994.
The tragic Jill Saward gets a mention on this page in which I interview the victim of another fantasist.
Back To False Rape Timeline