Former Army general charged with sexual assault

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

Ex-Major General James Roddis is due to attend Bulford Military Court Centre in Wiltshire on 17 July charged under Section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

He is a former commanding officer of The Highlanders, 4th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland, and later played a role overseeing special forces.

An Army spokesperson said: "We expect very high standards of behaviour from all our personnel and take any allegations of misconduct extremely seriously."

Until recently, Maj Gen Roddis, reported to have been born in Fife, was director of strategy for Strategic Command, which oversees SAS missions and offensive cyber warfare.

The officer received a number of accolades over his military career, including a Distinguished Service Order; an award given for highly successful command and leadership during active opeations.

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

In 2021, former Major General Nick Welch faced a four-week trial at the same venue, and was then the most senior officer to face court martial since 1815.

Welch, who left the military in 2018, was convicted of 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.