Major General who carried Prince Philip’s coffin ‘tried to kiss girl’

A Major General who was tipped as the future head of the British Army played with his colleague’s hair and tried to kiss her during a boozy karaoke night out while on deployment to Japan, a court martial heard today.

Highly decorated James Roddis, 53, has become the most senior officer for centuries to appear in a court martial for a sex offence after he drunkenly played with a colleague’s hair and kissed her without consent.

The Scottish ex-Major General, who helped carry Prince Philip‘s coffin, ‘inappropriately’ tugged and twirled the female RAF officer’s hair telling her she ‘looked better’ with it down, it was heard.

Today, his victim told Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire, that she has been left ‘deeply troubled’ by the behaviour of the Major General.

Ex-Major General Roddis, a married father-of-three, was, until recently, Director of Strategy at UK military’s Strategic Command, responsible for Special Forces units and other secretive intelligence-gathering and cyber units.

Today, he attended the court martial to be sentenced after pleading guilty to one count of disgraceful conduct of an indecent kind.

Prosecutor, Graham Coombes, said the offence took place during a deployment to Japan.

On the final night of the trip, the six-person group visited a Japanese BBQ restaurant and took part in a local tradition where they enjoyed unlimited drinks for two hours.

The prosecutor said they then moved on to a karaoke bar and a ‘substantial quantity of alcohol was consumed’.

‘By the time the group headed to the karaoke bar, the complainant accepted that she was drunk and it became apparent that the accused was drunk,’ Mr Coombes said.

At 00:40am, both Ex-Maj Gen Roddis and the female RAF officer – who can’t be named for legal reasons – were sat together in a booth in the karaoke bar.

It was there that the former Major General started ‘playing’ with his colleague’s hair.

‘He began to touch and inappropriately play with her hair, twirling it and tugging at her ponytail,’ the prosecutor said.

Ex-Maj Gen Roddis then proceeded to touch the back of her neck and put his arm around her.

In that moment, the female RAF officer said she became ‘very aware of the rank difference’ and tried to tell Ex-Maj Gen Roddis to stop.

‘The accused persists in his behaviour, continuing to touch her hair,’ the prosecutor said.

The former Major General pulled the female officers bobble out of her hair, causing it to fall and proceeded to tell her that ‘her hair looked better down’.

The prosecutor said at one point you can see the female officer ‘roll her eyes’ and look ‘displeased’ but rather than stopping, Ex-Maj Gen Roddis continued to ‘flip’ and ‘play’ with her hair.

Then, Ex-Maj Gen Roddis reached across, took hold of her chin, and kissed her for two seconds.

‘This was completely uninvited and without warning,’ the prosecutor said.

‘Shortly afterwards, as a result of what the accused had done, she left the bar with another member of the group.

‘She says she felt really angry and was upset about what had happened.’

The court martial heard she texted her husband saying: ‘Just because you’re a two-star, it doesn’t mean you get to touch me.’

On the flight home, the following day, the female officer told Ex-Maj Gen Roddis that ‘there was some things that you did last night that I deem unacceptable’.

In response, Ex-Maj Gen Roddis said ‘I need to resign’.

Summarising the aggravating factors of the case, the prosecutor said: ‘The victim was carrying out her duties.

‘She attended the social event as part of her duties and was expected to attend the final night.

‘The defendant was in a position of responsibility and trust. The offences took place in public.’

The prosecutor said the behaviour displayed by Ex-Maj Gen Roddis is ‘improper’ to the ‘clear rank difference’ between him and his colleague.

It was heard that the Major General had already been subjected to disciplinary action in 2023, relating to behaviour the previous year, which resulted in his loss of seniority.

He was accused of using inappropriate language with two female civil servants.

In a witness impact statement read to the court, the female RAF Officer said: ‘I’m deeply troubled by the entitled abuse of rank, a wariness of male senior army officers now pervades my ongoing service.

‘Whilst they applauded my bravery for standing up to the general, I am sorely disappointed that I was put in a situation where I had to find the moral courage to stand up.’

She said she ‘felt powerless’ in the moment, adding: ‘I was content and happy before he took that away from me.’

Jane Bickerstaff KC, mitigating, told the court: ‘He was flirting with [the complainant] and at one point, he thought that this was reciprocated because what he was sensing was that she was comfortable.

‘There was laughter, he was entirely unaware that she wanted him to stop and he heard no such request from her.

‘Had he done so, he would have stopped.

‘When he tried to kiss her and got nothing back at all, he realised then that he misjudged the situation.’

Of the impact of losing his career, Ms Bickerstaff KC continued: ‘It’s not the same as losing the job.

‘This conduct, which took place over a few minutes, resulted in the loss of the career that he spent 30 years building.

‘A distinguished career in which he has received a notable number of citations.

‘He has shown braver and given service to this country which few would be able to understand and comprehend.’

Ex-Maj Gen Roddis from Aberdour, Fife, Scotland, received the UK’s highest award for leadership in combat, Distinguished Service Order (DSO), and a Mention in Dispatches after serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He was made an MBE in 2009 and earned a pair of Queen’s Commendations for Valuable Service in 2008 and 2017.

In September 2022, he was one of the pall bearers selected to carry Prince Philip’s coffin.

He also founded the Army’s elite Specialised Infantry Brigade in 2017.

Ex-Maj Gen Roddis’ appearance at court martial is very rare for an officer of his rank.

The most recent example was Major General Nick Welch, who was jailed for 21 months at a court martial in 2021 after being convicted of fraud over claiming expenses for boarding school fees.

He was the most senior officer to face court martial since 1815 as he was convicted of a single charge of fraud for falsely claiming more than £48,000 in allowances to pay for his children’s boarding school fee