Accused corporal sent text shortly after 'rape' denying wrongdoing

An Army corporal accused of raping a colleague with another soldier sent a text message insisting he had done nothing "wrong" shortly after the alleged incident, a court heard.

Thomas Fulton, 28, and Jeremy Jones, also 28, allegedly raped Royal Military Police corporal Anne-Marie Ellement at their barracks in the early hours of November 20 2009.

The men, who have since left the Army, admit they both had sex with Cpl Ellement while stationed in Germany but claim she consented to what happened.

Bulford Court Martial Centre in Wiltshire heard Cpl Ellement, from Bournemouth, Dorset, died two years after alleging that she had been raped.

A panel of civil servants and senior military officers heard Cpl Ellement, Fulton and Jones were drinking in their mess before the incident.

Witnesses told how they discussed having a threesome, with the trio flirting, kissing and touching as they drank together.

The soldiers went to Jones's room at 12.30pm, with Cpl Ellement discovered naked, save for a cardigan, and crying outside her barracks at 1.37am.

Text messages between Fulton and his girlfriend Corporal Sarah Noteyoung in the hours surrounding the alleged incident were read to the court.

At 1.33am, Fulton sent: "All I can say is I honestly didn't do anything wrong and I'm sorry, I'm going to turn my phone off night! X"

Miss Noteyoung, who has since left the Army, was in England attending the funeral of a colleague who died in action.

Later that day she texted Fulton: "Tom. I dunt care what ppl are saying or what they think. I want to stay with you. Ive never been so devastated in my life. Thinkin bout you."

Lance Corporal Arron Harris was having a lock-in at the mess with Corporal Joseph Merron, Fulton and Jones on November 19.

Cpl Ellement, dressed in a brown cardigan and jeans, arrived there at 10pm having consumed two bottles of beer in her quarters.

Mr Harris, who has since left the Army, said Cpl Ellement discussed having a threesome with Fulton and Jones.

"While Anne-Marie was hesitant she wasn't hesitant in the actual act, she was concerned how she might look in the unit," he said.

"A threesome was being discussed between the three of them. She would but she was concerned about how she would look to the unit."

Mr Harris overheard Fulton tell her: "They won't. No one is going to say anything. Jez won't and neither will those two."

"It was a serious discussion about whether or not the three of them would engage in a threesome," Mr Harris said.

He said Fulton and Cpl Ellement were kissing and touching each other, with the soldier later sitting on Jones' lap as he touched he thighs.

"She was making no movement to stop it at all," he said.

Cpl Merron overheard Fulton, Jones and Cpl Ellement talking about a threesome on two occasions.

"The three of them were drinking beers and one said 'I think we should have a threesome'," Cpl Merron said.

"It took it as a joke at that point. Later on I heard the threesome conversation happen again.

"Between the first time there had been flirting going on between Mr Fulton and Miss Ellement.

"When I heard the threesome conversation then I thought it might lead to something."

At 12.30am, Cpl Ellement headed to Jones' room with Fulton and they both allegedly raped her.

Cpl Charlene Pritchard discovered a "very drunk" Cpl Ellement almost naked, crying and with muddy feet, outside her accommodation at 1.37am.

"She was hysterical, she was all over the place. She was a mess," Cpl Pritchard told the court.

"She told me that Tom had tried to sleep with her."

In a lengthy video interview Cpl Ellement, then aged 28, insisted she would not have consented to sex with either Fulton or Jones.

"I know that it's a really serious thing and the outcome affects what happens in their lives and careers," she said.

"I don't want to get someone accused of something they hadn't done but I know that I didn't want to have sex."

The court has not been told the circumstances of Cpl Ellement's death in 2011.

Ex-corporals Fulton, formerly of 174 Provost Company 3 Royal Military Police, and Jones, 28, formerly of Close Protection Unit Royal Military Police Operations Wing, each deny two charges of rape.

The trial, in front of Judge Jeff Blackett, is expected to last between two and three weeks.