Married Canterbury mum Teresa Aldridge lied about being raped by soldiers
by Alex Claridge
A married mother-of-four from Canterbury destroyed the lives of
two soldiers after accusing them of raping her.
After Teresa Aldridge's lies, the fiancée and children of one
soldier left him while the other quit the Army and moved away.
City magistrates heard one of the innocent men later said he
felt "degraded" as police took blood, pubic hair and DNA samples
from his penis as he lay on a table.
Aldridge, 41, of Cumberland Avenue on the Spring Lane Estate,
appeared at court having admitted wasting police time.
Rachael Laughland, prosecuting, said over the course of 24
hours about 20 police officers investigated allegations Aldridge
had been raped by two men on March 24, last year.
"A member of the public contacted police to say he had come
across a woman who said she had been raped by two men she described
as squaddies," Miss Laughland said.
"Eight officers went to the barracks where they arrested two
men."
The soldiers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were booked
into custody by sergeants, interviewed by detectives and examined
by forensic officers.
Aldridge, who sobbed during part of the hearing and is pictured
above, told police she had been at a party in Querns Road where she
had been drinking vodka.
She said she was taken into a room where she said two men had
raped her.
"I have lost everything. My fiancee and children have left me and I now lead the life of a single man...” – a victim of Teresa Aldridge
After his arrest, one of the soldiers said he had had sex with
Aldridge, but it was consensual.
He was nevertheless interviewed and examined as part of the rape
investigation.
The day after the men were arrested, Aldridge returned to the
police station to say she had, in fact, had consensual sex with one
of them.
Afterwards, one of the soldiers gave a statement detailing his
suffering as result of Aldridge's lies.
It read: "I was placed in a cell with a glass door and had a
police officer watching me.
"Four blood samples were taken from me, my trousers were pulled
down and pubic hair clipped and swabs were taken from my penis
area.
"I felt disgusted and degraded. I started crying and asked for a
solicitor.
"I have lost everything. My fiancee and children have left me
and I now lead the life of a single man."
Teresa Aldridge was
sentenced at Canterbury Magistrates' Court
Miss Laughland told the court when the soldier returned to
the barracks, he was branded a rapist and a paedophile.
She said the other soldier left the Army and moved away from the
area. The prosecutor added: "Twenty-four hours of police resources
were wasted, but not before the defendant returned to the police
station and made admissions that she had lied and that the sex was
consensual."
Magistrates told Aldridge she had come close to going to
prison. They gave her a 120-day sentence suspended for two years
with supervision and ordered her to pay £85 costs.
'She had sex
with a stranger and felt bad'
Teresa Aldridge's solicitor Ian Bond portrayed his client
as a vulnerable and troubled woman.
He said she had mental health issues and was her husband's
full-time carer, as well as raising two of her children.
"She takes full responsibility for this offence, fully
understands the seriousness of it and is remorseful," Mr Bond
said.
"She understands how her behaviour has impacted on her victims
and is sickened. She did snuff out the allegations the next day
when she went to the police to say that she had done something
terrible."
Mr Bond described the rape claims as an “isolated incident” and
“not part of any pattern of behaviour”.
He told magistrates Aldridge, who has one previous
conviction for being drunk and disorderly, was not a regular
drinker and had drunk too much at the party on the night she made
the claims.
"She had consensual sex with a man she had never met before,
there was then a dispute which led to her being shoved out of the
front door,” Mr Bond said.
“She was feeling pretty wretched at this point, having just had
sex with a stranger and being kicked out.
“She was sitting on a wall when a passer-by came past and she
blurted out that she had been raped. It led to two men going
through an unpleasant ordeal.
“But she did have the courage to go to the police and say
‘stop, this is wrong’ and understands the pain, suffering and
indignity these men suffered.”
31/01/13
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