Woman jailed for falsely claiming soldier raped her

A woman who falsely claimed she was raped by a soldier after he “rejected her” has been jailed for five years.

Rebecca Palmer, 26, from Royal Wootton Bassett, made the allegations against a soldier based in Tidworth, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

The CPS said Palmer had “indulged in consensual sexual activity” with the victim, 22, and launched a “malicious campaign” after he rejected her.

She was found guilty of four offenses of perverting the course of justice.

She also pleaded guilty at Winchester Crown Court to five offenses of malicious communications and three offenses of perverting the course of public justice.

Joanne Jakymec, chief crown prosecutor, said Palmer had sent “malicious communications” to both the victim and his family and “repeatedly made false allegations” including an allegation of rape.

“Rebecca Palmer indulged in consensual sexual activity with the victim but on being rejected by him, embarked on a malicious campaign which led to him being arrested on more than one occasion and held in custody for periods of time,” she said.

Ms Jakymec said Palmer had also “invented fake friend profiles and produced false correspondence hoping that these would be accepted as supportive evidence of her false claims”.