Cpl Anne-Marie Ellement inquest: Soldier denies bullying

Story from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-26037026

The girlfriend of a soldier accused of raping a Royal Military Police officer found hanged two years later has denied vowing to “make her life hell”.

An inquest into the death of Cpl Anne-Marie Ellement, 30, from Bournemouth, also heard the woman deny she called her a “liar” and a “slag”.

Cpl Ellement was found hanged at Bulford Barracks near Salisbury, Wiltshire in October 2011.

She had alleged she had been raped by two soldiers in 2009.

An inquest in March 2012 recorded a verdict of suicide, but last year the High Court ordered a new inquest.

The female soldier, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the hearing she could not remember calling Cpl Ellement the names, but that she “possibly” said them out of anger.

At the time of the alleged rape she was in a relationship with one of the two accused, Soldier A, but they had since split.

She was made aware of the allegation while at a funeral for a colleague who had been killed in Afghanistan.

The woman told the inquest she got drunk at the wake in the evening and admitted being angry towards Cpl Ellement for making the claim.

“Initially it was at both of them but as the day went on it was more towards Anne-Marie,”

she said.

“I took her to be a very good friend who I had tried to help out a lot, invited her to a lot of things in the UK and I couldn’t understand why she had done this.

“It was such a shock, initially that was where I channelled the anger.

“I didn’t believe Soldier A was capable of doing that.”

She said she still believed both Solder A and B were innocent as she did not believe they were capable of rape.

Deputy coroner Nicholas Rheinberg asked if she “co-ordinated a campaign against her” in the months that followed, to which she replied: “It simply isn’t true.”

The inquest in Salisbury is expected to last at least two weeks.

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