A British Army soldier has been dismissed from service for sexually abusing a teenage colleague by touching her breast and slipping his hand up her skirt while exclaiming ‘I’m so hard’ in her ear.
Lance Corporal Storm Elliott, a trainee Royal Military Police officer, was convicted of inappropriately touching a female soldier on two occasions during a night out at a bar.
Witnesses said a military tribunal that the 22-year-old harassed the young woman on the dancefloor and persisted in groping her despite her rejections.
He was characterised as a ‘lovesick puppy’, continuing his advances despite her explicit refusal and her physical rejection when he stroked her breast.
LCpl Elliot had claimed the touching was consensual, but after a two day trial a board decided the attention was unwanted and he had grabbed the young woman’s crotch.
At his sentencing, LCpl Elliott was discharged from the forces and placed on a three-year service community order.
The teenage victim had told his trial she had been worried about reporting the incidents because ‘he was an RMP [Royal Military Police officer] and no one was going to believe it’.
She told Bulford Military Court, Wilts: ‘I could feel him touching my breast in a way I didn’t want him to.
‘It wasn’t very long because I stopped him from doing it. I was confused as to why he’d done it.
‘I felt something under my dress on my underwear. I pushed his hand away. I walked straight to [my friend] and said I needed to leave.’
LCpl Elliott had become enamoured with the female soldier after the two met at the Popworld nightclub in Portsmouth, Hants, where he was on a night out from his base at the nearby Defence School of Policing and Guarding.
She continued: ‘He came up to me and said I looked gorgeous. He shouted in my ear because the music was loud.’
The court heard LCpl Elliott had shouted comments in her ear – and kept trying to kiss the young woman despite being told ‘no’.
She said: ‘He was pushing his top half of his body towards me to kiss me. I couldn’t get back any further. He asked for a kiss and I said no. He just kept on trying.’
One of the woman’s friends even referred to LCpl Elliott as a ‘lovesick puppy’ – telling the court she had thought him ‘a little strange’ because he introduced himself as ‘Lance Corporal Elliott’.
The victim told the trial she had been scared to tell officers about the incident due to LCpl Elliott’s more senior position in the Army.
She said: ‘The way I saw it was that he was an RMP [Royal Military Police officer] and no one was going to believe it.’
Judge Advocate General Alan Large told LCpl Elliot the offences were ‘serious enough to warrant dismissal’.
He said: ‘You were drunk and found the victim attractive. On the dancefloor you touched her on her breast when it was clear she did not want your attention.
‘There are two offences – not just one. Alcohol may explain a person’s behaviour, but it does not excuse it. There are two offences and clearly one of them more serious – serious enough to warrant dismissal.’
LCpl Elliott was also placed on a three year service community order – requiring him to complete 35 sessions of an accredited sexual offender behaviour programme and 30 days rehabilitation activity.
He will also be on the sex offenders register for five years.
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