A former Royal Navy officer who put his penis through a shower curtain where a female colleague was washing has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Petty Officer Greg Melrose, 32, preyed on three female colleagues on board HMS Audacious, a nuclear submarine, and married his partner of a decade weeks after his crimes.
He groped other officers without permission, including one attack where he ‘put his hand down the back’ of a woman’s swimming costume ‘around her bottom and on to her vagina’.
PO Melrose was also dismissed from the Navy, which was criticised by the judge at Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire for its ‘misogynistic culture’ and told it needed to take action to address the ‘stigma’ women sailors face when reporting abuse.
The defendant, who had served in the Navy for nine years when the offences took place, held the rank of Leading Hand on HMS Audacious when it was stationed in the Mediterranean.
While the crew were on shore leave at a Cyprus hotel, PO Melrose and a fellow sailor were at the hotel’s swimming pool bar when he put his hand down the back of her swimming costume, the court heard.
Another colleague saw what had happened but did not report the incident until hearing of other allegations.
At a similar time the petty officer exposed himself to a junior colleague in the submarine’s showers.
While the victim was showering PO Melrose put his erect penis through the curtain – she was ‘shocked and upset and backed away as far as she could in the cubicle’.
A separate offence occurred while she helped PO Melrose to put on his fire-fighting uniform during a practice drill.
She said she usually tried to keep her distance from him but they were expected to work together for the drill.
During this time he touched her bottom while others were not looking.
A third victim said she considered herself a friend of PO Melrose but would not be around him while he was drunk because of his past conduct towards her.
She held the rank of Able Seaman at the time, junior to the defendant.
The pair had been at a Crete strip club for a social event with friends but the group had to take turns carrying PO Melrose back to their hotel afterwards because he was drunk.
As the victim took her turn carrying him, PO Melrose forcibly tried to kiss her, attracting the group’s attention.
The next morning he messaged his colleague saying: ‘I’m sorry for kissing you like that I like you so much that I was hoping you’d lose character and kiss me back haha.
‘I’m so nervous something bad happened I honestly thought we’d wake up together. I’m gutted someone spotted us.’
She replied: ‘You were a nightmare. I’m… loyal to my partner. Nothing will ever happen, drink or no drink.’
By the time the three women reported their experiences, PO Melrose had been promoted.
The court martial heard they ‘feared for their safety’ when speaking out because of a ‘culture where they would be targeted for coming forward’.
One of them was told she was being stationed with PO Melrose while the Navy investigated offences he committed against her.
Assistant Judge Advocate General Jane England praised the three sailors for being ‘courageous’ by reporting the defendant.
He was found guilty of the three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent exposure on Friday.
Weeks after his offences he married his partner – they are still together.
Sentencing, Judge England told the defendant: ‘One of your victims said: “I didn’t feel comfortable speaking out. Women are discriminated against in the Navy and I feared for my safety while on duty.”
‘Another said: “It’s hard enough being female on a submarine. You try to keep your head down and not draw attention to yourself. By saying something you make yourself a target.”‘
She added the Navy would have to ‘consider their actions’ in stationing PO Melrose with one of his accusers while investigating her allegations.
According to Judge England, the woman felt the Navy ‘wasn’t protecting her’ and chose to work from home, missing out on officer training as a result.
‘She worried about the stigma of a woman reporting an incident. She’s now left the submarine service and been diagnosed with PTSD.’
But the judge noted the action the Navy had taken was ‘encouraging’ so far.
She continued: ‘The women did not want to report it because of discrimination against women and a culture where they would be targeted for coming forward.
‘They came forward because it was the right thing to do. They wanted to stop you and call out this behaviour in The Royal Navy. They were courageous to do so and they were right to do so.
‘The Royal Navy has taken steps since these offences to tackle its misogynistic culture which is encouraging but still embryonic.
‘You had three character references. All spoke highly and cannot envisage you doing these things. Perhaps that suggests they don’t know you as well as they think and that you hid this part of yourself.
‘You took little responsibility for these offences. We think your motivation for these offences was not alcohol but your desire for sexual gratification.’
She said PO Melrose’s conduct was ‘utterly disgraceful’ and he had used his friendship with two of the women to ‘prey on them’.
‘You just didn’t care,’ she added.
HMS Audacious is part of the Navy’s Astute Class nuclear-powered submarine range and was launched in April 2017 after being built in Barrow-in-Furness.
The submarine is used in activities including covert intelligence gathering and strategic strikes.
