A 6ft 6ins British Army soldier has been thrown out of the military for sexually assaulting a female comrade when he repeatedly tried to kiss her despite her pleas for him to stop.
He repeatedly tried to kiss her during a late night walk
Signaller Ryan Pell ‘overpowered’ his much shorter victim, subjecting her to a ‘never ending’ ordeal by putting her in a ‘bear hug’ and repeatedly trying to kiss her during a late night walk.
The 26-year-old also drunkenly pinned the 5ft 4ins woman against a fence, pushed her onto the floor and straddled her for ‘a bit of fun’.
Pell was guilty
After a trial at Bulford Military Court, Pell was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault.
Dismissing him from the Army, Britain’s only female military judge told the soldier, who worked as a Network Engineer at British Army, he only had himself to blame for ‘destroying his career’.
Assistant Judge Advocate General Jane England told Pell: ‘She was telling you to get off but you were saying it is a bit of fun. It was not fun.
‘When she went on that walk, she had no reason to fear you. You are much larger and stronger than her and you have the build to overpower her, which you did.
‘You did not want to take no for an answer.
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‘It is always unfortunate when someone of your position does something to destroy their career, but the only person to blame for that is you.’
She dismissed Pell from the armed forces, handed him a 24 month suspended sentence and ordered him to pay his victim £1,000.
The victim’s statement
His then 17-year-old victim – who cannot be named for legal reasons – told the court that she has suffered sleeping problems since the incident and is now alarmed when a man raises his voice at her.
In a statement, she said: ‘After the incident…I would have trouble sleeping. When I would eventually get to sleep, it would be in the early hours.
‘In the weeks leading up to the [trial], I would not sleep at all.
‘Before the incident, a male raising his voice at me would have not bothered me but this has definitely changed since the incident.’
The impact of the incident on the victim
The victim also said she has recently suffered flashbacks of the incident.
During the trial the teenager told the court the attack happened after she had got into an argument with a fellow soldier and Pell suggested they ‘go for a walk and talk about it’.
She said he was ‘acting like he had had a few to drink’ and was ‘stumbling a little bit and had slurred speech’.
The pair were walking together when Pell tried to kiss the teenager.
She said she told him to stop and he apologised.
Then, the tall male soldier sat down on a picnic bench and asked her to sit next to him.
She told the court: ‘I told him I didn’t want to sit down. He told me I should just sit down next to him and then he grabbed me by my joggers to sit close to him.
‘I started to walk away. He came up behind me and grabbed me from behind.
‘He grabbed me, trapping both of my arms in a bear hug.’
The teenager said she ‘couldn’t get out’ and Pell repeatedly tried to kiss her neck.
After he eventually put her down, she lost balance so he pushed her to the floor – pinning her down and straddling her so she could not move.
