A man behind bars for nearly four years for a gang rape that never happened has been cleared after his accuser admitted she lied to make her friends feel sorry for her.


William McCaffrey hugged his lawyer after the same New York judge who had sentenced him to 20 years in prison threw out the case and apologised on Thursday.


"I've been waiting for this for a long time," the soft-spoken McCaffrey, 32, said outside a Manhattan court.


"I'm just glad it's over."


New DNA tests played a part, but his exoneration largely hinged on his accuser's recantation - a rarity after rape convictions, the head of a national prosecutors' group said.........

Peguero pleaded guilty Monday in state Supreme Court in Manhattan. The married mother of two from Union City, N.J., faces a maximum seven years in prison when she's sentenced in February.

She told authorities she lied because her friends weren't sympathetic after her encounter with men who had frightened but not attacked her.