British Woman Apologizes to Dean Lewis Over Claims

A British woman who alleged a well-known Australian musician was a rapist, which led to him being dropped from his record label, has apologised and said she made up the claims.

Evie Smith, a 19-year-old from Liverpool in the UK, was accused of leading a targeted campaign of defamation and harassment against Dean Lewis, from .

The 'Be Alright' singer's legal team told the The Saturday Telegraph the teenager had shared false claims about Lewis over messages and videos on .

Those claims included allegations he was a rapist, had pursued sex with underage girls, was physically violent with women and had made death threats.

In a TikTok on Saturday, Ms Smith said she had lied.

'Hi, I want to say something about the things I posted about Dean Lewis,' she told her 95,000 followers on TikTok.

'In October I posted things about Dean that weren't true and misled people.

'I also used my TikTok account to bring more attention to claims for others without knowing if they were true and what I did turned into a campaign against Dean.'

She said she had 'made serious claims without properly checking them' and conceded that she 'shouldn't have done that'. 

'What I did was wrong. I am really sorry to Dean for what I've done and the impact it has had on him, especially on his reputation.

'I regret how I handled everything and I wish him the best.'

Prior to the video, Lewis' lawyers had sent a concerns notice to Ms Smith.

A concerns notice is the first step in formal legal defamation proceedings which outlines the complainants case. 

A secondary legal letter was then sent advising her that her statements may have broken criminal laws in Bolivia, where she was staying with her boyfriend.

No criminal charges were laid. 

Ms Smith had previously refused to admit her allegations were false, making Saturday's video a remarkable turnaround.