FRANCE’S highest court refused an appeal today brought by a woman who says that she suffered repeated sexual assaults in her early teens for her ordeal to be classified as rape.

The Court of Cassation ruled that Julie, who was 13 when she was first allegedly raped by 20 firefighters, had consented to sex with the men, only three of whom face charges of sexual assault.

The case has taken a decade to reach court, with Julie’s mother first raising complaints in August 2010 against three firefighters for aggravated rape and corruption of a minor.