A Royal Air Force officer has been convicted of exposure after horrifying bar staff by “putting his testicles on the bar” at a drunken summer ball.
Flight Lieutenant Richard Aldridge, 39, unmasked himself immediately after hearing two women complain that military personnel had flashed at them before, including an officer who was “doing the chopper with his penis”.
The officer got a leg up on the bar and “held himself by the bottom,” one of the women told the court.
Flt Lt Aldridge denied the charges, claiming he was “not flexible enough” to do so, saying his uniform was also too tight.
But after a three day trial, Flt Lt Aldridge was found guilty of a charge of exposure. He was cleared of assault after being accused of grabbing a female officer’s buttocks while she was standing at the bar. He denied touching her.
She claimed he apologized to her the next day, telling police, “It’s a culture that’s not going to go away. There’s an attitude that it’s easy to get away with.”
Bulford Military Court, Wilts, heard that the officers’ mess was held at MoD Boscombe Down, near Amesbury, Wilts.
Captain Rebecca Slee, Prosecutor, told the court-martial that the party had begun and was in full swing when Flt Lt Aldridge arrived at the bar.
She said: “(Two women) worked behind the bar. They had talked about previous incidents of exposure and said they hoped nothing like this would happen tonight.
“Flt Lieutenant Aldridge was sitting at the bar and overheard the conversation. He then bared his testicles and placed them on the bar.
‘Inappropriate behavior’
As a witness, one of the women – a civilian worker – told the court about her memory of the evening: “There was a conversation between me and a colleague about previous positions and what people get up to.
(Flt Lt Aldridge) put his testicles in his hand and at the top of the bar.
“I said ‘that’s inappropriate, put them away’. He was laughing.”
Her colleague said: “We had a conversation and Flt Lt Aldridge came to the bar. In a previous position, an officer had done something – two weeks earlier, an officer was sitting on the table doing the chopper with his penis.
Referring to Flt Lt Aldridge, she added: “I saw him standing on the bar holding the bottom of himself. His genitals were out of his clothes. He had one leg on the ground and one leg up. He then got off and left.
“(Later) he was very drunk and an officer took him to his room carrying him over his shoulder.”
Flt Lt Aldridge was cleared of grabbing a female officer’s buttocks after denying even seeing her at the event, saying more than 200 people attended.
‘Confused and Drunk’
In a police interview shown to the court, the woman said: “We sat at the bar and both ordered drinks.
“He mumbled and couldn’t understand… his shirt was open almost to the bottom.
“He looked confused and very drunk.
“He reached forward and grabbed the bottom of my buttocks.
(Flt Lt Aldridge) texted me the next day apologizing.
“It’s a culture that won’t go away. There’s an attitude that it’s easy to get away with.”
When asked by attorney Stephanie Painter about the alleged incident, Flt Lt Aldridge said: “That would never have happened, by any means, in any form, drunk or otherwise.
“I would never do such a thing.”
Flt Lieutenant Aldridge will be sentenced for exposure at a later date.
