Shamed Oxford student Katherine Rainwood, expelled for cheating in her final exams, has broken her silence to apologise to family and friends.

Miss Rainwood, 22, resigned as student union president in June shortly after she was sent down.

She has been accused of cheating in her politics, philosophy and economics degree by downloading an essay she had written earlier on her computer.

It is thought she fled to Germany after she resigned. Miss Rainwood, who had been living in Catherine Street, east Oxford, said: "I would like to offer my unreserved apologies to all those who have been hurt, let down and troubled by the past events."

She is expected to appeal against the severity of her punishment to University proctors.

Miss Rainwood added: "I'm sorry about what I've done to my family and friends. I didn't mean to cause all this anguish to so many people. I've hurt my friends and those who love me.

"I can't get into my house - it's been under siege by reporters. They're everywhere at the moment, camping out in front of my home. I just can't get in to the front door."

Friends said they believed Miss Rainwood had acted under the pressure of trying to combine student politics with final exams.

Others felt she was driven by her elder sister Helen's achievement of a Cambridge first in classics.

And a relative said: "The family is all very academic and Katherine always struck me as the most clever. I was shocked - I would never have thought she needed to cheat."

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