British woman who reported rape in Hong Kong gets 6 years jail for blackmail, perverting justice

A British tourist has been jailed for six years for blackmail and perverting the course of justice, after initially reporting a man in 2024 for allegedly raping her.

District Court in Wan Chai. File photo: HKFP.

Isabel Rose, 26, was handed the sentence at the District Court on Wednesday morning. She wore a white top and a black blazer.

Judge Adriana Noelle Tse Ching said Rose had “not shown an iota of remorse for her wicked behaviour,” rejecting her lawyer’s pleas for leniency based on her clean record and status as a foreigner in Hong Kong.

The imprisonment comes more than two years after Rose filed a police report saying she was raped by a man in his Mid-Levels apartment during the early hours of February 1, 2024.

Police arrested the man – known in the case as X – on suspicion of rape. He cannot be named for legal reasons.

Police arrested Rose two days later on suspicion of blackmail, and she was subsequently charged with demanding a payment of £100,000 (HK$1.05 million) from the man.

Months later, Rose was also charged with perverting the course of justice, with the prosecution saying that she had filed a false rape report to police.

The man was never charged.

Rose was found guilty in March after a six-day trial, in which both Rose and X testified. In a verdict that was over 300 pages long, the judge said it was “crystal clear” that she demanded the £100,000.

The judge also described X as an “honest, credible and reliable witness,” while saying Rose was “dishonest, incredible and unreliable.”

Focus on educational background

Ahead of announcing the sentence, Tse recapped the case and described Rose’s background.

She fixated on Rose’s educational history, questioning an events management postgraduate diploma certificate from the UK that her lawyers had submitted to the court.

Tse said one of the defendant’s mitigation letters stated that Rose had “something that is over and above a master’s degree.” She asked Elizabeth Herbert, Rose’s barrister, if her client had a PHD.

District Court Judge Adriana Tse. Photo: Judiciary.

Herbert said she did not.

“Does she even have an undergraduate degree?” Tse asked, raising her voice.

Herbert replied that she was “told that she does,” but later backtracked and said there was “no undergraduate degree.”

She said the postgraduate certificate was achieved after high school, not university.

When asked why the mitigation letter stated she had something more advanced than a master’s degree, Herbert said the letter was just given to her. Tse berated her for not clarifying.

‘Absolutely no mitigating factors’

Tse then outlined the factors the defence proposed should be reasons for giving Rose a more lenient sentence and refuted them one by one.

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.”

The judge also said Rose’s foreign status in Hong Kong was no reason for a shorter sentence. There are prisoners from many different countries in Hong Kong prisons, many of whom speak English, she said.

Isabel Rose. Photo: Isabel Rose, via FB.

Rainlily, an NGO that supports victims of sexual violence, submitted a mitigation letter to Tse raising concerns about Rose’s mental health.

Tse also said she would not take that into account, saying there were “absolutely no mitigating factors in the present case.”

She added that X had been “nothing but kind to the defendant,” and that Rose had taken advantage of his “kindness, naivety, friendship and romantic interest.”

Tse handed down a starting sentence of five years for the blackmail offence and three years for the perverting justice offence. One year is to be served consecutively, resulting in a total of six years’ imprisonment.