Female Coldstream Guard avoid jail for sex attack on female comrade

A British Army musician in the renowned Coldstream Guards’ band has avoided jail after she sexually assaulted a fellow female comrade in a wine-fuelled attack.

Military clarinet player Private Adelle Foster tried to take the woman’s clothes off after telling her she would ‘massage her to sleep’.

When the colleague protested, Pte Foster groped her and told her ‘I’m still going to touch you’, a court martial heard.

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.

The historic Coldstream Guards – recognised by their famed red tunics and bearskin caps – is responsible for guarding the Royal Family and is known 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.

Pte Foster – who told the woman she had just been ‘joking’ – has now been handed a suspended sentence after she was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault following a hearing at Bulford Military Court, in Wiltshire.

Opening the case, Commodore James Farrant told the court martial the attack took place in the early hours after the clarinetist had drunk about a bottle of wine.

The prosecutor said that usually, the women ‘didn’t get on that well, and they argued’, including about ‘each other’s behaviour’.

Cdre 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.’

Pte 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.’

Cdre Farrant said that, despite telling her colleague she was going to bed, Pte Foster touched her genitals through her jeans once again.

The victim, who was also wearing a jumper, told her ‘no’, and Pte Foster mocked her by ‘repeating [her] protestations to her’.

The woman then tried to leave the room, but Pte Foster blocked 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.

After the woman says that she has a partner, Pte 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’.

Pte Foster then repeatedly says ‘I’m joking’.

Cdre Farrant said  at around 2.40am, Pte Foster sent a message to the woman telling her 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 Pte Foster she shouldn’t have molested her.

The musician responded that ‘she was joking when she had done that’ – this can be heard on an audio recording.

Pte Foster said: ‘Before, when I was joking and touching you, I was joking.’

The musician, when confronted with this evidence in an interview, said she didn’t remember saying she was joking.

She denied touching her colleague inappropriately.

The victim told the court: ‘She admitted herself by saying “I just tried to make the situation lighter”.’

Pte Foster was handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.

She was also handed a community order involving 200 hours of unpaid work, and 12 rehabilitation activity days.

She had already left the Army, it was said.