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Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement inquest: MOD denies 'cover-up' Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement inquest: MOD denies 'cover-up' after new evidence emerges at the last minute
(about 1 hour later)
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) today denied a “cover-up” after an inquest was adjourned into the death of Royal Military Police officer found hanging in her barracks after she accused two soldiers of rape. The family of a military police officer who was found hanging at her barracks after she accused two soldiers of rape accused the Ministry of Defence of a potential “cover-up” yesterday following the last-minute disclosure of new evidence to her inquest.
Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement, 30, was found dead at Bulford Barracks near Salisbury in Wiltshire on 9 October, 2011. The coroner presiding over the three-week hearing into the death in 2011 of Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement had been due to deliver his verdict but ordered a week-long adjournment after lawyers for the Army revealed an inventory listing documents and items - including three mobile phones and a personal diary - had been found in recent days.
She alleged she had been raped by two soldiers in November 2009, while she was posted in Germany but had been left “absolutely devastated” by the decision taken by military investigators not to prosecute them, an inquest in Salisbury heard. Neither the phones nor the diary, which military investigators noted contained one page which would be “sensitive and upsetting”, were produced at the inquest or shown to relatives who attended. In total, 1,400 previously unseen files will now be disclosed to Cpl Ellement’s family for the first time.
Nicholas Rheinberg, deputy coroner for Swindon and Wiltshire, was expected to deliver his conclusion into Corporal Ellement's death today following the three-week inquest. A lawyer for the MoD insisted the omission of the material had been accidental and said it had gone to “exceptional lengths” to disclose all material relevant to the death of Cpl Ellement, who it is claimed was bullied after she made the complaint of rape while posted in Germany in 2009. Military investigators declined to bring charges.
But the hearing was adjourned after the court heard an inventory listing items including three mobile phones and a pink diary found in Corporal Ellement's room had been discovered by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Speaking after the hearing in Salisbury, Cpl Ellement’s sister, Khristina Swain, said: “I’m so angry and so upset after waiting all this time to get where we are, to find out we haven’t had all the information and documents we actually need - I’m just absolutely devastated.
However the items have not been found and it is thought they may have been handed to Corporal Ellement's father, who has not been located, the inquest heard. “Why haven’t we been told this stuff? Why has it been held? We just want the truth, that’s all. In my eyes, I feel there could be a cover-up.”
More than 1,400 files, including 29 which were deemed relevant to the inquest by the MoD, would now be disclosed to Corporal Ellement's family for the first time, the inquest heard. The inquest is the second to be heard into the death of the 30-year-old soldier after her family won a rare High Court ruling quashing the original verdict following a complaint that the circumstances behind her death had not been fully considered.
Kirsten Heaven, who represents Corporal Ellement's two sisters, told the inquest: "The family are devastated and upset this disclosure has come so late in the day." The document listing the undisclosed material was discovered by Army lawyers last week, after all witnesses had finished giving their testimony.
Nicholas Moss, representing the MoD, said there was "no evidence of a cover-up". The court heard that it was thought the mobile phones and diary, which were found in Cpl Ellement’s room following her death at Bulford Barracks near Salisbury, may have been released to her father, who is estranged from other family members.
“The MoD has gone to exceptional lengths to seek to provide as fullest disclosure as possible,” he said. Nicholas Rheinberg, the deputy coroner for Swindon and Wiltshire, said he wanted “all urgency” applied to efforts to try to find any missing items or documents. He added that there was also a “danger” in seeking information which it might be “unrealistic to find”.
The undisclosed items had been found by the army's legal team in the last few days, the hearing was told. The MoD said that much of the new material was not related to the circumstances of Cpl Ellement’s death and was linked to her own casework as an officer in the Royal Military Police (RMP). But the court heard that 29 of the files had been deemed relevant to the inquest, including a note of an interview she had been due to attend the day after her death in October 2011.
Adjourning proceedings until Monday morning, the coroner said there was a “danger” in pursuing information which was “unrealistic to find” and which may be of little relevance to the inquest. The body of Cpl Ellement was found hanging in her room after she had written “I’m sorry” in lipstick on a mirror. The inquest heard that the young soldier had complained of a campaign to isolate and intimidate her after she made the complaint that she had been raped following a night out in Germany in 2009.
“I suggest all urgency is given to track down any missing documents,” Mr Rheinberg said. When a subsequent RMP investigation found insufficient grounds to bring charges, Cpl Ellement was “absolutely devastated” and began to face taunts that she had “cried rape”, the inquest heard. A box of crickets was released into her room and on another occasion a soldier was reprimanded for discussing the allegations in front of others.
“I'm going to grant the application (for adjournment) on strict and immediate terms.” A female colleague, who had been the girlfriend of one of the accused soldiers and was alleged to have directed a campaign against Cpl Ellement after she returned to Britain, said she had no recollection of vowing to make her life “hell”, nor of calling her a “slag” and a “liar”. But the soldier admitted she had “possibly” used the words in anger.
A previous inquest in March 2012 recorded a conclusion that Cpl Ellement, originally from Bournemouth in Dorset, took her own life. Sharon Hardy, 44, who is Cpl Ellement’s second sister, told the inquest: “When she died, my immediate thoughts were the Army, the rape, the bullying and the overwork.”
But last August, the High Court ordered a fresh hearing, which began in Salisbury on 3 February. Nicholas Moss, the lawyer representing the MoD at the inquest, said there was “no evidence of a cover-up” in the late production of the undisclosed material.
During the inquest, Corporal Ellement's family claimed she had felt bullied by colleagues and without support in the Army.
Her sister, Sharon Hardy, 44, a married mother-of-four from Christchurch, Dorset, told the inquest: “When she died, my immediate thoughts were the Army, the rape, the bullying and the overwork.”
For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here for details.For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here for details.
PA