JUDGES have thrown out an appeal by a Royal Wootton Bassett woman jailed for falsely accusing an innocent soldier of raping her

Rebecca Palmer was sentenced to five years in October after being found guilty of four allegations of perverting the course of justice and five of sending malicious communications.

The court heard she targeted the 22-year-old serviceman, based at Tidworth, after he rejected her in December 2015.

He had consensual sex with the 26-year-old, but later told her he wanted nothing more to do with her, sparking her campaign of lies against him.

He was arrested and detained by police and put through two years of misery as a result of Palmer’s claims.

Yesterday she appealed against her sentence, but was told it was not a day too long by three senior judges at the Court of Appeal in London.

Dismissing her claim, Mrs Justice Andrews said Palmer had unleashed a storm on the soldier when he rejected her.

She told police he had stolen from her, tried to strangle her and raped her in his car.

Her victim was also accused of stalking, threats and breaching his bail restrictions.

Messages posted online and sent by Palmer amounted to a campaign of harassment and vitriol against the unnamed man and his mother.

“He was only 20 years old and, for a period of two years, she made his life a living hell,” the judge said.

Lawyers for Palmer today argued that psychiatric problems she suffers from had not been fully taken into account by the sentencing judge.

She was prone to impulsive and unexpected behaviour, with no thought of the consequences of her actions, the court was told.

But Mrs Justice Andrews, sitting with Lady Justice Sharp and Judge Peter Collier QC, said the sentence was fair.

“For offending of this seriousness, there is nothing wrong with the length of the sentence which was imposed,” she said.

“It was very clear that there was a degree of pre-planning involved in her offending and she knew that she was lying.

“It was deliberately intended to cause maximum distress to her victims.”

After the trial in Winchester last October Joanne Jakymec, the chief crown prosecutor for Wessex said Palmer, of Garraways, Royal Wootton Bassett, became so embroiled in her own lies that she told the police she was pregnant, but she then claimed to have lost the baby during a suicide attempt.”