A major general who was a pallbearer for Prince Philip and was tipped to become the next head of the British army has admitted playing with a woman’s hair and kissing her without her consent.
James Roddis, 52, of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, admitted a lesser charge of indecent and disgraceful conduct on April 12 this year.
He appeared via video link at a hearing at the Bulford court martial centre in Wiltshire and will be sentenced at the same court on September 5.
Roddis’ not guilty plea to sexual assault, section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act, was accepted by the Military Prosecution Authority.
Dressed in a dark suit and tie, he spoke only to confirm his name and plead guilty to a charge of disgraceful conduct of an indecent nature under section 23 of the Armed Forces Act.
It is extremely rare for an officer of his rank to be court-martialed.
The highly decorated commander was a pallbearer at the late Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral in 2021 and led thousands of soldiers during his unblemished 30-year career, winning numerous gallantry awards.
Judge Advocate General Alan Large told the court that Roddis had “without his consent” [you] played repeatedly with the hair of [the complainant] before kissing her’.
Graham Coombes, prosecuting, told the court that the complainant’s views had been sought before the decision to accept the plea was made.
“We took into account the seriousness of the offence and the concrete issue of consent, as well as the views of the complainant,” he said.
She said she accepted that this was disgraceful conduct.
“The plea is based on full facts and it is accepted that the complainant did not consent to the conduct at any time.”
He was a candidate for chief of the general staff and is only the second major general to face a court-martial in two centuries.
Roddis, who is married with three children, reportedly left the military of his own accord in recent months.
He was most recently director of strategy in the British Army’s Strategic Command, responsible for special forces and other covert intelligence gathering and cyber security units.
He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), Britain’s highest award for combat leadership, and a Mention in Despatches after serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Roddis was appointed MBE in 2009 and received two Queen’s Commendations for Valuable Service in 2008 and 2017. He founded the Army’s elite Specialist Infantry Brigade in 2017.
In 2014 he commanded the Highlanders – troops from the 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland – which were then the last Scottish battalion to serve in a combat role in Afghanistan.
An army spokesman said earlier this month: “We expect the highest standards of behaviour from all our personnel and take any allegations of misconduct extremely seriously.”
In 2021, former Major General Nick Welch was tried for four weeks at the same venue, becoming the highest-ranking officer to be court-martialled since 1815.
Welch, who left the army in 2018, was convicted of a single count of fraud in March 2021 and jailed for 21 months for falsely declaring more than £48,000 in benefits to pay for his children’s boarding school fees.
