A female British Army musician in the renowned Coldstream Guards band has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a colleague in a wine-fuelled attack.
Military clarinet player Adelle Foster tried to take her female comrade’s clothes off after offering to ‘massage her to sleep’.
And when her victim protested when she started groping her, Foster told her: ‘I’m still going to touch you.’
Her victim – who had a boyfriend – was so troubled by her persistent assaults she recorded the incident, the audio of which was played to the hearing.
Foster – who told the woman she had just been ‘joking’ – has been found guilty of three counts of sexual assault by a board at Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire.
The historic Coldstream Guards – recognised by the iconic red tunics and bearskin caps – is responsible for guarding the Royal Family and is famed for its high-profile ceremonial duties outside Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.
Its band is one of the oldest and best known military bands in the world and as well as having its own recording deal, takes part in global public events including King Charles’s Coronation in 2023.
Opening the case, Commodore James Farrant said that the incident took place in the early hours after the clarinetist had drunk about a bottle of wine.
Military clarinet player Adelle Foster tried to take her female comrade’s clothes off after offering to ‘massage her to sleep’
And when her victim protested when she started groping her, Foster told her: ‘I’m still going to touch you.’
The prosecutor said that usually, the women ‘didn’t get on that well, and they argued’, including about ‘each other’s behaviour’.
Commodore Farrant continued: ‘Musician Foster moved closer to [the woman] and suggested that she, Musician Foster, give her, [the woman], a massage to help her sleep.
‘[The woman] declined, but Musician Foster started stroking her hand anyway.
‘[The woman] tried to lift this off.’
Foster then grabbed her breast and touched her intimately, the court heard.
The prosecutor continued: ‘All touching was over clothing.
‘Eventually, Musician Foster said she was going to sleep, [the woman] thought the incident was over.
‘But Musician Foster began touching [her] again, this time on her breasts and bottom.
‘She began trying to take [the woman]’s clothes off.
‘She eventually stopped following [the woman]’s polite protest.’
Commodore Farrant said that, despite telling her colleague that she was going to bed, Foster touched her genitals through her jeans once again.
The victim, who was also wearing a jumper, told her ‘no’, and Foster mocked her by ‘repeating [her] protestations to her’.
The woman then tried to leave the room, but Foster stopped her from going before her victim managed to flee.
The exchanges between the women were partially captured in audio recordings the victim made that night, which were played in court.
Foster – who told the woman she had just been ‘joking’ – has been found guilty of three counts of sexual assault by a board at Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire (pictured)
After the woman says that she has a partner, Foster can be heard saying ‘I’m still going to touch you’, and later she asks ‘Are you going to tell your boyfriend?’.
The woman is then heard saying ‘Don’t’, and ‘I don’t find it comfortable, all this touching’.
Foster then repeatedly says ‘I’m joking’.
Commodore Farrant said that at around 2.40am, Foster sent a message to the woman telling her that she was ‘just trying to be friends’, and ‘not to make herself a victim’.
She tried to call the woman, and in another message asked if she was ‘pretending to be a victim’.
Speaking face to face again that night, the woman told Foster that she shouldn’t have touched her.
Foster responded that ‘she was joking when she had done that’ – this can be heard on an audio recording.
She said: ‘Before, when I was joking and touching you, I was joking.’
When confronted with this evidence in an interview, she said that she didn’t remember saying she was joking.
The victim told the court: ‘She admitted herself by saying “I just tried to make the situation lighter”.’
Foster will be sentenced at a later date.
Windsor CastleBuckingham PalaceCoronation
