A WOMAN who lied that a teenage soldier had raped her was yesterday jailed for 12 months.
Amanda Lang told police she was attacked near bushes in an isolated area of RAF Brize Norton by Lance Corporal Phillip Trowell - when the pair had consensual sex after meeting in a bar.
L Cpl Trowell faced months of suspicion until Lang admitted she had lied.
Yesterday the 21-year-old was condemned at Oxford Crown Court for letting down genuine victims.
Amjad Malik, prosecuting, said unemployed Lang, formerly of Carterton but now of Bamber Bridge, Preston, made the allegation after sleeping with L Cpl Trowell in a room at the base when her Senior Aircraftsman boyfriend was away.
She was caught out when police found no evidence of mud or grass stains on her clothes despite her story of being forced on to the ground by her attacker.
Mr Malik said L Cpl Trowell, a soldier with The Royal Corps of Signals, was at Brize Norton for a parachute training course when he met Lang in the base's Arena Bar in November 2006.
He said Lang told friends she was raped because they had seen her leaving the bar with L Cpl Trowell, but added she was reluctant to report the attack.
He said: "She quite cynically said it was the second time she had been raped and she did not want to go through the ordeal again.
"She said she did not think the police believed her and it made her feel totally worthless.
"This was quite simply lies."
Lang admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice just days before her trial was due to begin last month..
James Reilly, defending, said: "Witnesses around her encouraged her to make the complaint and she did.
"It was a foolish thing to do. She is an immature person."
Sentencing Lang to 12 months in jail, Judge Julian Hall said: "What you did was wicked.
"For a few days this man was turned upside down.
"You caused an enormous amount of work and expense.
"You have done womankind no good at all. You let down the women that make genuine allegations of rape because the suspicion is, and can be raised, of 'Here's another person who has made it all up'.
"That is the ultimate evil in what you did."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article