Top army officer avoids jail after admitting to drunken conduct in karaoke bar

A senior Army officer has narrowly avoided prison after he was found guilty of drunkenly touching a woman in a karaoke bar and attempting to kiss her, a court martial heard.

Former Army major general James Roddis has been sentenced to six months’
imprisonment suspended for two years after admitting a charge of disgraceful conduct of an indecent kind.

Major General James Roddis had been drinking for several hours when he started touching the hair of the woman before kissing her on the lips while part of an overseas delegation in April this year.

The married father of three previously faced a charge of sexual assault for his actions, but admitted the lesser charge of disgraceful conduct of an indecent kind at the Bulford Military Court Centre in Salisbury, Wiltshire, in July.

Roddis, 53, who had been required to resign from the Army in May following a misconduct process, was also formally dismissed from the military by the court martial board.

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

Graham Coombes, prosecuting, said that while off duty the delegation had taken part in a local tradition of two hours’ unlimited drinking, before moving on to a restaurant and finally a karaoke bar where they downed glasses of champagne.

‘The complainant accepts she was drunk, and it became apparent the accused was also drunk,’ Mr Coombes said.

Shortly after midnight, a member of the party was filming the filling of a champagne fountain and in the background Roddis can be seen touching the complainant’s hair and she indicates with her finger for him to stop.

The court heard the kiss was not captured on film but the lead up to it was.

‘He begins to touch and inappropriately touch and play with her hair and touch her ponytail before putting his arm around her,’ Mr Coombes said.

‘She turns to the accused and asks him to stop. She turns towards him and raises her finger appealing to him to stop. She says she didn’t know what else to do to stop him touching her hair.

‘You can see her raise her eyes and indicate her displeasure.’

A few minutes later, Roddis puts his hands on her chin and kisses her on the lips for around two seconds.

‘She says this was completely uninvited and without warning,’ Mr Coombes said.

Mr Coombes told the court the woman later messaged her husband, telling him: ‘Just because you are a two-star general you don’t get to touch me.’

The following day, the woman asked to speak to Roddis in private on the flight home and told him his behaviour the previous evening was unacceptable.

‘The accused apologised and replied, ‘I need to resign’,” Mr Coombes said. ‘The accused asked her if she intended to make a formal complaint and if she did to tell him because he would need to resign.’

The court heard this was the second similar incident involving Roddis’s conduct for which he received a punishment of loss of seniority.

Two female civil servants had lodged complaints about his conduct following an incident, again overseas, in 2023 where he had asked ‘questions of a sexual nature’ and ‘touched one of the females that made her feel uncomfortable.’

The complainant cannot be identified due to a court order.

Roddis’s sentence is being decided by a court martial board comprising of three senior officers sitting with Judge Advocate General Alan Large.

The president of the board was an Royal Air Force air marshal and they were sitting with an Army major general and a Royal Navy commodore.

An Army spokesman said: ‘This unacceptable behaviour by ex-major general Roddis fell well below the high standards expected of both our leaders and personnel and has no place in our armed forces.

‘We recognise the courage shown by the victim in reporting this matter and are working to ensure victims feel empowered to come forward and are properly supported when they do.

‘We’re determined to stamp out unacceptable behaviour, which is why we’re taking forward a number of initiatives to ensure the armed forces are a safe environment, such as improving reporting mechanisms and the introduction of an application to raise concerns – but we recognise there’s more to do and we are committed to making further improvements.’

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