Cpl Anne-Marie Ellement inquest: Officer 'bullied'

Cpl Anne-Marie Ellement, with her sisters, Khristina Swain (l) and Sharon Hardy (r), was left "absolutely traumatised" by the attack, the court heard

A Royal Military Police officer who alleged she was raped by two servicemen said other female soldiers then started to bully her, an inquest heard.

Cpl Anne-Marie Ellement, 30, from Bournemouth, was found dead at Bulford Barracks in Wiltshire in October 2011.

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

Cpl Ellement's sister Sharon Hardy told the inquest Anne-Marie had been left "absolutely traumatised" by the rape.

The inquest in Salisbury heard Cpl Ellement was found hanging in her barracks two years after alleging she had been raped by two soldiers.

'Banging on door'

Mrs Hardy said one female soldier supplied a statement to investigators supporting Cpl Ellement's allegations but changed it after befriending the girlfriend of one of the soldiers she was accusing of rape.

"The girls were running up and down the corridor screaming 'there's the girl that cried rape', banging on her door," Mrs Hardy added.

She said her sister was "devastated" by the decision by military investigators not to prosecute the two soldiers.

Mrs Hardy, a married mother-of-four from Christchurch, Dorset, said her sister rang her from Germany to tell her of the allegation in November 2009, while Cpl Ellement was posted in Germany.

"She was absolutely traumatised," the 44-year-old said.

Cpl Ellement returned to the UK on compassionate leave and spent Christmas with her sister and her family.

Anne-Marie Ellement had told one of her sisters that some other female soldiers had "started to turn on her"

"She looked worn out and she had lost weight - she looked awful," Mrs Hardy added.

"She kept a lot back because I think she was embarrassed about what happened. She was dreading going back to Germany.

"Anne-Marie was confident those soldiers would be charged."

Mrs Hardy said her sister "could not believe it" that the two men, known only as Soldier A and Soldier B at the inquest, would not be charged.

"She was 110% certain what had happened to her," she added.

"She said to me ,'they got away with it - they are trying to uphold the law but they have got away with it'."

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