Lawyer jailed for false rape claims against boyfriend

A lying law graduate who falsely accused her boyfriend of rape so she would have an excuse for failing her legal exams has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Rhiannon Brooker, 30, falsely claimed that Paul Fensome, 46, forced her to have sex with him on five occasions and faked injuries to suggest he had beaten her.

The Birmingham law graduate even alleged that Mr Fensome caused her to have a miscarriage by punching her in the stomach.

Bristol Crown Court heard that Brooker falsified the allegations because her party lifestyle led her to fail her bar assessments.

She repeatedly told an exam committee that her performance suffered from “extenuating circumstances”.

Mr Fensome, a 6ft 8in heavy metal fan, was arrested, charged and held in custody for 36 days before police realised he had clear alibis for the dates of the alleged rapes.

Brooker, of School Road, Frampton Cotterell, South Gloucestershire, denied 20 charges of perverting the course of justice between May 2011 and January 2012.

But a jury of 10 men and two women convicted her of 12 charges – five false rape claims, six assaults and one of false imprisonment – earlier this month.

Judge Julian Lambert said Brooker had lied in an “utterly wicked’ way.

“Rhiannon Brooker was a bright star and shining example of what can be achieved by those who lack special privileges,” the judge said.

Her lies led to Mr Fensome’s arrest, charge and detention in Horfield Prison, where he was subjected to abuse by fellow inmates.

Judge Lambert sentenced Brooker to three and a half years for each of the five false rape allegations, to run concurrently.

He imposed concurrent nine-month sentences for the remaining false assault allegations and charge of false imprisonment.