Temitope Adenugba, 24, was struggling to meet a deadline while studying at Oxford Brookes University last year.
She phoned police to tell them she had been abused as a child, before complaining she had also been subjected to a serious sexual assault as she slept in her college digs.
When officers went to see her at her halls of residence to take a statement, Adenugba pointed at cleaner Kunle Ogunmola and said: 'Can't talk here, that's the man who raped me.'
Mr Ogunmola was arrested, before a subsequent police investigation exposed Adenugba's catalogue of lies.
Last night, her victim said she had put him through a 'year of hell'. Mr Ogunmola said she had destroyed 'my reputation, my confidence and my life'...
Adenugba concoted the story in an attempt to get an extension on her end-of-term coursework, the court heard.
Sentencing her to 18 months in jail at Oxford Crown Court, Recorder Rabinder Singh QC attacked Adenugba's 'malicious allegations'. He added: ' It's extremely easy to make an allegation of rape when there's no foundation whatsoever. It's likely to have the perverse impact of guilty men walking free.'
The court heard that police attended Clive Booth Halls of residence, Oxford on May 21 last year after Adenugba reported historic abuse against her as a child.
Officers interviewed her but were stunned when she told them Mr Ogunmola had used a key to get into her room on April 13 and raped her.
A full police investigation was launched and the cleaner was quizzed and later arrested.
Detectives, however, found any keys taken by Mr Ogunmola had been returned by April 12 and he would not have had access to her room at any time.
Adenugba also claimed her victim had been harassing her with phone calls, but analysis of mobile phones showed this was a lie.
Mr Walsh added that Adenugba, who admitted perverting the course of justice, had made a fictitious rape complaint against a previous partner in October 2006.
Walter Scott, mitigating, said his client had made the claim against Mr Ogunmola after an earlier false allegation of harassment against the same man 'didn't have the desired effect of extending her time to do her coursework'.
He added: 'She was not seeking to directly attack the victim, he was chosen rather arbitrarily.' Photo:Adenugba was a student at Oxford Brookes University when she made the false allegations
Last night Mr Ogunmola, 47, said he had only met the student twice before she made her accusations.
He said on the first occasion she had pleaded with him to lend her some money as she desperately needed to get home to see her family in London. The devout Christian lent her £20 - all the money he had.
He said: 'I was absolutely devastated when I was told she had accused me of being a rapist. I decided to help her because she reminded me of my daughter, who is the same age and is also at university.
'But in return she destroyed my reputation, my confidence and my life. I'm still trying to convince my wife that I'm innocent and I don't know if I can ever repair the damage she has done.'
He added he had only met the student twice and did not even know her name before the police told him..
'I felt freedom for the first time when she was convicted. I hope it will teach her a lesson and stop other people like her doing what she did. She is a very devious girl, but I am a Christian and I forgive her for what she did.'
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