Soldier tells how his life was ruined after woman he tried to comfort accused him of rape
By Claire Duffin, and agencies
3:12PM BST 25 Jun 2013
A soldier has told how his life was ruined when a woman he tried to comfort falsely accused him of rape.
The man - who has not been named - was held by police for 15 hours after Phillipa Costello said he attacked her.
It was then another two months before the investigation against him was dropped when CCTV footage proved he was innocent. However he said that by this time, his partner had left him and he had been subjected to name calling.
On Monday, Costello, 28, was jailed for eight months for perverting the course of justice.
Teeside Crown Court heard the serving soldier had tried to comfort her when one of his friends "ungallantly" left her for another woman in a nightclub in Ripon in North Yorkshire in April 2011.
He put his arm round her when she sat crying outside but she later told family members he had raped her at the gates of a nearby park.
The court heard that she continued with her lie even when confronted with the CCTV footage. She only admitted the offence when she was due to stand trial last month.
In a statement read to the court, the soldier said: "It was not long before everyone I knew, knew I had been arrested. That's when the name-calling began, and I got very stressed.
"I felt this was a personal attack, especially when it was from someone I didn't know. I don't think my partner 100 per cent believed me.
"Since my arrest my life has changed considerably as a direct result. The is a stigma attached to people alleged to have committed these offences. It may be years before I can remove that stigma."
Peter Sabiston, prosecuting, told the court that Costello, of Dishforth, North Yorkshire, had gone to meet one of the soldier's friends in the nightclub but he had "rather ungallantly" spurned her advances and met up with another woman.
"This was to have a rather dramatic impact on the rest of the evening," said Mr Sabiston. "She was clearly distressed, insulted and offended by this."
When she was sat outside crying, the soldier put his hand around her shoulder to try to comfort her. Her family, with whom she was celebrating her birthday, then later saw her crying and she told them she had been raped.
Prosecutor Peter Sabiston said: "She was asked if anything had happened, and initially she said 'nothing', but then said 'it hurts, it hurts, I want to die. I don't want to live any more. I feel dirty'.
"When she was asked what had happened she said 'I can't tell you'.
"She was asked if he had done things she had not wanted, and she said 'yes, but I don't want to tell anyone'.
"She went on to claim she had been raped by a male from in the club and repeated that in her video interview and police interview, and when she became a suspect rather than a victim."
One of her relatives called police from the scene and the soldier was arrested nearby.
Alun Jones, mitigating, said: "She felt stuck in a track. When she found herself in that hole, she kept digging, and she regrets that."
Mr Jones added: "She accepts it is a serious offence but it was not a premeditated act. It was a spur of the moment act committed in drink."
Judge Michael Taylor told Costello: "Regrettably, offenses like this are not uncommon and a clear message has got to be sent out by the courts that those who make such allegations leading to the arrest and detention of perfectly innocent people must be marked out by way of being punished.
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