A senior British soldier has been dismissed from the army for sexually assaulting a female colleague.
Warrant Officer Adam Graham put his hand under the woman’s dress during a military Christmas party at a hotel in what was described as a “humiliating attack”.
Graham, 37, a gunnery inspector with the 4th Regiment Royal Artillery, hung his head in court as he was found guilty and dismissed from the service after a 20-year career, during which he was awarded medals for service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lyndsey Zalkin, prosecuting, told Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire: “[Graham] was at a bar with the victim. He put his hand through the slit of her dress and grabbed her.
“He took his hand out and he started making satisfied noises.”
The court heard the victim describe the incident as a “forceful grab”.
The divorced father-of-two had denied a single count of sexual assault but was found guilty following a trial. As well as losing his job, he was made the subject of a two-year community service order and must complete a 90-day accredited sexual offenders programme.
Sentencing him, Judge Andrew Smith said Graham had behaved “disgracefully”, and added: “You deliberately sexually assaulted [her]. You grabbed her over her undershorts.
“You then compounded the humiliation by withdrawing your hand ... and then making what she called a ‘satisfied noise’.
“She was shocked and upset by what you did. She immediately complained to others.
“She didn't want this to happen. She has nothing to gain by this. She reported you because it was the right thing to do.”
Mr Smith concluded: “We are at an absolute loss to know why you did this. There was no reason for you to have hostility towards her.”
As a qualified gunnery inspector, Graham held a position of major responsibility in the army, the court heard, with his training costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds.
His lawyer, Edward Hand, said: “He will do anything to stay in the British army. He will accept any restriction in the form of demotion or any other restriction.
“If there is a possibility that he was to continue as a serving soldier, he would seize it with both hands.”
Judge Smith said the evidence against Graham was “overwhelming”, despite him putting forward a “bizarre conspiracy theory” to explain the accusation.
The judge said Graham had been respected by his colleagues and was technically accomplished, but had thrown his career away with this “unexplainable action”.
He added: “You refuse to accept you’ve done anything wrong. You can’t say that you’re remorseful.
“Dismissal is the appropriate punishment.”
