Rape allegation in Hong Kong leads to a blackmail conviction

Isabel Rose, a 25-year-old woman from east London, is adapting to life inside Hong Kong's oldest maximum security women's prison. On 3 March, Rose was convicted of blackmail and perverting the course of public justice, after first reporting a rape in Hong Kong. She is now awaiting sentencing on 22 July and faces up to seven years in prison. She says she is adjusting to the sound of banging gates and jingling keys at Tai Lam Correctional Institution - a complex of concrete and razor wire that overlooks a thin strip of water. She spends her time making notes on her verdict and reading about post rape trauma inside. "I don't feel sad, just numb," she said, adding that she felt the whole experience of reporting the allegation left her feeling like her dignity was "stripped away". Campaigners say the case raises wider questions about how allegations of sexual assault are assessed and the judgements made on behaviour following this type of trauma. The allegation was reported to Metropolitan Police which told the BBC that it could only pursue the claim once the complainant returned to the UK. Rose grew up in south-east London, but attended boarding school in Eastbourne. She worked in crea

Apr 22, 2026 → Apr 27, 2026