Former senior British army officer charged with sexual assault

A former senior officer will appear before military court later this month charged with sexual assault, an army spokesperson has said.

Ex-Maj Gen James Roddis is scheduled to attend Bulford military court centre on 17 July charged under section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

“We expect very high standards of behaviour from all our personnel and take any allegations of misconduct extremely seriously,” the spokesperson said. “We will not offer further comment while legal proceedings are ongoing.”

Roddis received a number of accolades during his military career, including a Distinguished Service Order, an award given for highly successful command and leadership during active operations.

He was made an MBE and earned two Queen’s Commendations for Valuable Service in 2008 and 2017.

Among other responsibilities, he was until recently the director of strategy for Strategic Command, an organisation comprised of special forces and intelligence units.

In 2014, he was commanding officer of the Highlanders – troops from the 4th Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland – who were then the last Scottish battalion to serve in a combat role in Afghanistan.

Former Maj Gen Nick Welch faced a four-week trial at the same centre in 2021, when he became the most senior officer to face court martial since 1815.

Welch, who left the military in 2018, was convicted on a single charge of fraud in March 2021 and was jailed for 21 months for falsely claiming more than £48,000 in allowances to pay for his children’s boarding school fees.