Major General receives suspended sentence for drunken disgraceful conduct

A senior Army officer who drunkenly touched and tried to kiss a woman in a karaoke bar while leading an overseas military delegation has received a six-month suspended prison sentence.

Major General James Roddis’s career lies in tatters after being dismissed from the Army by the court martial board.

The 53-year-old married father-of-three had been drinking for several hours when he started touching the hair of the woman before kissing her on the lips.

A court martial in Bulford, Wiltshire, heard the delegation were on the last night of their overseas trip in April this year.

Roddis had been required to resign from the Army in July following a misconduct investigation but as part of his punishment he was dismissed.

The board also ordered him to complete 30 days of rehabilitation and 150 hours of unpaid work and pay his victim £2,500 compensation.

Roddis had previously admitted a charge of disgraceful conduct of an indecent kind.

Imposing sentence, Judge Advocate General Alan Large said: “As we’ve seen from the video over a period of some minutes you began touching her hair and you put your arm around her.

“She was clearly not interested in your attention. You then pulled her hair bobble out.

“It was apparent from another person at the table that the victim was uncomfortable about that.

“This was only a few minutes after your physical attention started. About 10 minutes later you put your hand on her chin, pull her head towards your lips, and kiss her on her lips for about two seconds.

“The disgraceful conduct in your charge encompasses both the unwanted touching of her hair and the kiss.”