Teenage girl, 12, who claimed to have escaped four men who had abducted her from outside her school was made up, police said today.
The teenager claimed that she had been bundled into the back of a car as she walked home from Pedmore Technology College, Stourbridge.
The report led to a huge manhunt involving dozens of police officers.
However police today said: ‘An extensive investigation into claims a 12-year-old girl was abducted outside school in Stourbridge last week have shown the allegation was made up.’
The local authority sent a letter to all parents in the area to warn them about what had happened.
The girl said that a white man approached her, forced her into the back of a car where two other men were sitting.
She said there were four people in total and they drove around for 90 minutes before she managed to escape three or four miles away.
However, West Midlands Police said they had gone through hundreds of hours of CCTV footage and were unable to find any evidence of the black taxi.
Detective Sergeant Matt Slattery said: ‘As the enquiry progressed, it quickly became clear the incident had not happened in the way it was described to us.
‘I know that this allegation caused fear among local residents and although the investigation continues and the girl is being supported, I want to stress that the public were never in any danger.’
He added: ‘Incidents of child abduction are thankfully rare, but any reports of such are rigorously investigated and any bogus accounts will be quickly uncovered.
‘Detectives responded in the way people would expect when faced with a report of a child being abducted.’
