Tri-Service

Ex-Soldiers Deny Rape Of Suicide Corporal

Two former soldiers have pleaded not guilty to the rape of Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement, who was found hanged two years after the alleged attack.

Ex-corporals Thomas Fulton, 27, formerly of 174 Provost Company 3 Royal Military Police, and Jeremy Jones, 28, formerly of Close Protection Unit Royal Military Police Operations Wing, both appeared at Bulford Court Martial Centre in Wiltshire this morning.

They both entered not guilty pleas to two charges each of rape dating from November 2009.

Judge Jeff Blackett ordered a three-week trial to begin on April 11 next year at the same court.

He told the defendants: "You have both been released on your own providence but you are to attend at this court on March 3rd or an earlier date if that is to be arranged."

The hearing was also attended by Cpl Ellement's family. Cpl Ellement died at Bulford Barracks, Wiltshire, in October 2011, two years after she alleged that two soldiers raped her while she was stationed in Germany in 2009.

The 30-year-old alleged she was then bullied by other female soldiers.

After an initial investigation in 2009, the case was closed by the Service Prosecuting Authority due to "insufficient evidence", but a decision was made in October this year to charge the two defendants following a review by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Unusually, a second inquest was then held into Cpl Ellement's death in 2014. The Coroner ruled that bullying, the "lingering" mental effects of this alleged rape, "work-related despair" and a romantic break-up were all factors in Cpl Ellement's death.