A woman who lied that a teenage soldier had raped her was yesterday jailed for 12 months.

Amanda Lang told police she was attacked near bushes in an isolated area of RAF Brize Norton by Lance Corporal Phillip Trowell - when the pair had consensual sex after meeting in a bar.

L Cpl Trowell faced months of suspicion until Lang admitted she had lied.

Yesterday the 21-year-old was condemned at Oxford Crown Court for letting down genuine victims.

Amjad Malik, prosecuting, said unemployed Lang, formerly of Carterton but now of Bamber Bridge, Preston, made the allegation after sleeping with L Cpl Trowell in a room at the base when her Senior Aircraftsman boyfriend was away.

She was caught out when police found no evidence of mud or grass stains on her clothes despite her story of being forced on to the ground by her attacker.

Mr Malik said L Cpl Trowell, a soldier with The Royal Corps of Signals, was at Brize Norton for a parachute training course when he met Lang in the base's Arena Bar in November 2006.

He said Lang told friends she was raped because they had seen her leaving the bar with L Cpl Trowell, but added she was reluctant to report the attack.

He said: "She quite cynically said it was the second time she had been raped and she did not want to go through the ordeal again.

"She said she did not think the police believed her and it made her feel totally worthless.

"This was quite simply lies."

Lang admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice just days before her trial was due to begin last month.

James Reilly, defending, said: "Witnesses around her encouraged her to make the complaint and she did.

"It was a foolish thing to do. She is an immature person."

Sentencing Lang to 12 months in jail, Judge Julian Hall said: "What you did was wicked.

"For a few days this man was turned upside down.

"You caused an enormous amount of work and expense.

"You have done womankind no good at all. You let down the women that make genuine allegations of rape because the suspicion is, and can be raised, of 'Here's another person who has made it all up'.

"That is the ultimate evil in what you did."

L Cl Trowell, who is believed to be serving abroad, was not in court to hear the sentencing.

But in a victim impact statement he described the effect of the allegation.

Mr Malik said L Cpl Trowell was arrested by RAF police officers on his arrival in Cyprus the following day, questioned for three hours, subjected to a medical examination and had intimate samples taken from him.

He was flown back to the UK, was arrested again by police, spent five hours in custody and was interviewed as a rape suspect for one-and-a-half hours.

Mr Malik said: "He describes how this was the first time he had ever been arrested by police - a daunting experience - the medical examination, and his anger and frustration at having to prove his innocence."

*Last night, a rape charity said focusing on cases where allegations were proven to be false harmed the credibility of genuine claims.

Women Against Rape said less than six per cent of recorded rape cases ended in a conviction.

Charity worker Ruth Hall said: "We know of a number of cases where it was thought the accusation was false when it was not.

"There is enormous publicity given to cases when it is proved to be false, to give the impression it is very common - when in fact it is not."

In September, 2006, Lisa Fraser, of Barrington Road, Watchfield, was given a formal police caution for falsely claiming she was raped near the A420.

In November, 2005, two 16-year-old girls from Bicester were jailed for 22 months for falsely claiming they were abducted and raped.