A teenager has been fined £80 by police after falsely claiming her mobile phone was stolen on a night out.

The 18-year-old contacted police on April 16, and said her phone had been stolen in a Croydon nightclub in the early hours of Sunday, April 14.

She claimed her phone was stolen from her bag while in the club, but insisted her bag had been on her the whole evening.

Officers in the Croydon Town Centre Team began to investigate the 'crime' and they tried to get in touch with the victim again to clarify what she was wearing and who she was with on the night of the theft, so they could look at the club's CCTV footage to try and identify the thief.

But when they checked her name and details against the list of people who had attended the club that night, her name did not appear.

The victim became increasingly vague with her account of what happened as further inquiries were made.

Officers got in touch with one of her friends who was with her that evening to see if they had any information that would help identify the suspect, but they revealed while walking from outside the club to East Croydon station the victim admitted to losing her phone.

Inspector Martin Roche said: "This woman clearly lost her phone that evening, but thought to report it stolen to police in the misguided impression that it would help her to get a new phone on her insurance.

"Making a false claim and wasting police time in this way is a criminal offence and you could end up with a fine or even a criminal record."