Chaplain `tried to kiss wife of soldier'

A SOLDIER'S wife was seen retching by her friend after an Army chaplain tried to kiss her, a hearing was told yesterday.

A witness told a court martial that the woman, who was said to have been indecently assaulted by Captain Richard Landall, appeared to be aggravated and nervous when she visited her and found the padre there.

"I could not hear what was being said, then the padre left. I got up and went into the hallway and I saw her wiping her mouth," she said.

The witness said that the 24-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, described the 41-year-old padre putting his hands round her face and trying to put his tongue in her mouth. She told the hearing at Tidworth, Wiltshire: "She ran into the kitchen because she felt sick. I went in and she was bending over the sink. She was retching."

She said the woman told her that the chaplain had put his hands inside her trousers, and that she had "frozen", because her daughter was there.

The husband of the woman said yesterday that though he had never particularly confided in the chaplain, he still regarded him as a friend.

He said: "Yes, I thought he was [a friend]. Not a friend as a mate or as a chum, but someone you could talk to, have a conversation with."

Capt Landall, chaplain to the 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, denies four charges of indecently assaulting the wife of the soldier and an alternative charge of harassing her.

He also denies harassing Fusilier Sean Brazier, harassing his wife, Shelly Brazier, and conduct to the prejudice of good order by undue familiarity to Mrs Brazier.

The incidents are said to have taken place at Celle, Germany, between January and November last year.