Jailed: Nicole Richess, 20, of Bournemouth, Dorset, had sex with the two servicemen after a night out

A young woman was today jailed for more than two years after falsely accusing two soldiers of trying to rape her because she was ashamed about a drunken cocaine-fuelled threesome.

Nicole Richess, 20, of Bournemouth, Dorset, had sex with the two servicemen at a friend’s house and then her own home after a night out.

The following day her boyfriend heard rumours that she had been unfaithful and confronted her.

Richess ‘panicked’ and made up the false claim that the two innocent men, aged 23 and 24, had forced themselves on her - because she was too ashamed to tell her boyfriend of three years, Alex Ganter, she had cheated on him.

Mr Ganter made her go to the police to report the ‘attack’, and Richess even gave a ‘tearful’ account of the apparent crime to officers and ‘illicitly gained their empathy’.

Her ‘deceitful web of lies’ saw the two soldiers arrested, leaving them ‘distraught and petrified’.

However, officers began to realise Richess was lying when they gathered the accounts of the soldiers and her friends - and she was charged with perverting the course of justice.

Richess was today jailed for two and a half years by a judge who said that her lies had an ‘insidious and corrosive’ effect on public confidence and the justice system.

Judge Jonathan Fuller QC said: ‘You made a determined and prolonged attempt to weave a picture of deceit to further your ends and you were prepared to make wholly false allegations of attempted rape against these innocent young men.

Victims: Richess made up the false claim that the two innocent men (above, left and right) had forced themselves on her - because she was too ashamed to tell her boyfriend she had cheated on him

‘You told a web of lies and even cried to evoke sympathy. The impact on these victims cannot be understated and false allegations of rape and attempted rape can have dreadful consequences.

‘Every occasion of a proved false allegation has an insidious effect on public confidence, sometimes allowing doubts to creep into when one shouldn’t exist. Your offence has a corrosive effect on criminal justice.’

Fern Russell, prosecuting, told Bournemouth Crown Court how Richess and her friend Laura Hillwood met a group of four soldiers at Taboo nightclub in the town on November 9, 2012.

The women went back to Ms Hillwood’s home in Bournemouth with the men where two of them had sex with Richess in a bedroom. Ms Hillwood walked in on them to find Richess wearing just a bra and the two soldiers in a ‘state of undress’.

Ms Hillwood ordered the trio to leave and they went to Richess’s home in Bournemouth where they continued to have sex. The following morning Richess drove the soldiers to their barracks at Blandford Army Camp in Dorset.

Ms Russell said: ‘Ms Hillwood then told her mutual friends she had walked in on a threesome. That was fed to Nicole’s boyfriend and he became angry about the situation and wanted to know what was going on.’

Night out: Richess and her friend Laura Hillwood met a group of four soldiers at Taboo nightclub (pictured) in Bournemouth on November 9, 2012

Richess denied to her friends and her Mr Ganter that the sex was consensual and claimed she was raped. She alleged that the soldiers walked into the bedroom while she was changing her clothes where they attempted to rape her.

She said: ‘The males had asked me for a threesome and they tried grabbing me. They started stripping off and I was shouting and trying to move but one of them kept bending me over trying to get me.

You told a web of lies and even cried to evoke sympathy. The impact on these victims cannot be understated Judge Jonathan Fuller QC

‘I was getting angry and I couldn’t get out but eventually my friend came in and I managed to get out, get in my car and go home.’

She recalled to officers her false story in ‘great detail’ in a 65-minute recorded interview, the court heard. Ms Russell said: ‘She was tearful and illicitly gained the empathy of the police as she was struggling to give out what she said was her truthful account.’

The soldiers, who were absent from today’s hearing, were told they would face no charges two weeks after the incident.

In total, Richess’s claims wasted 296 hours of police time. She had denied a charge of perverting the course of justice but changed her plea to guilty on the eve of a trial more than two years later.

In a victim impact statement the 23-year-old serviceman said he was worried about his future as a soldier, adding he was proud of representing the country.

Lift: The following morning Richess drove the soldiers to their barracks at Blandford Army Camp (pictured)

He said: ‘I was extremely worried about what would due to not know what would happen next. This incident has had a profound effect on my job.

‘Because I had been arrested I was seen to be bringing the Army into disrepute. It’s had a long lasting effect which has changed the way I have interacted with females.

Because I had been arrested I was seen to be bringing the Army into disrepute. It’s had a long lasting effect which has changed the way I have interacted with females Victim, 23

‘The lasting effect of this case will follow me for many years and perhaps the rest of my life.’

The 24-year-old said: ‘I was petrified and couldn’t believe this was happening to me. It changed me as a person and I have become a lot quieter and less confident. My family were distraught about the allegations and the worry has been the biggest thing for me.’

Tony Ventham, defending, said Richess - who is seven and a half months pregnant by her current partner - said she felt pressured in to reporting the false claims because her former boyfriend was ‘violent’ and ‘controlling’.

Richess had also taken cocaine for the first time that night. Mr Ventham said: ‘She called the police because she was in a panic and because she’s stupid and immature.’