This is awful, and I feel for the person she accused.
It is so very rare that rape claims are made falsely, it can't have been easy for him
I think the sentence might be because of her circumstances, which were also reported in that article:
'Rebecca Stevens, for Saxon, said she lived in supported council rented accommodation and had suffered with learning difficulties. 'The offence was unsophisticated and it was obvious to the police from the outset that there were suspicions about the allegation,' she said.
She was a 'vulnerable young woman' in the company of 'less desirable' people who bullied her into making the allegation and it was not her who initially reported the complaint.'
I am angry that the people who bullied her, and the person who initially reported the complaint, don't seem to have shared her punishment.