‘STOP FORCES INITIATIONS’
Plea as RAF ‘assault’ probed
DEFENCE chiefs stand ac- cused of failing to clamp down on abusive initiation ceremonies.
The family of a Deepcut suicide victim have spoken out after a video appeared to show an airman being sexually assaulted.
Geoff Gray, 57, whose son Geoff died at the Surrey barracks 20 years ago, is calling for more action to be taken.
He claimed: “This sort of abuse happens because someone in authority is turning a blind eye.
“It is sickening that this sort of bullying is still happening. Time and time again the armed forces say things have changed. As a family of a dead soldier, we are saddened to see they haven’t.”
Former military chiefs also joined the call for reforms.
The new video is alleged to show a vile initiation ritual by troops in the RAF Regiment’s Support Weapons Flight.
The footage is said to show a naked airman being held down by drunken troops before allegedly assault him. Initiation ceremonies and rituals known as hazing have been banned by the armed forces but still occur unofficially in the mistaken belief that they help with bonding.
An RAF spokesman said: “We have been made aware of an offensive video involving Royal Air Force personnel. The RAF Police Special Investigation Branch is now investigating the incident shown in the video.” they
DRINKERS face waiting lists several weeks long to get a table at their local pub.
Bars and restaurants have the goahead to reopen outside from April
12 and indoors from May 17.
But many report they are already “chocker” with thousands of bookings. Many are even putting people on waiting lists.
While it is good news for businesses struggling after months of lockdown, thirsty customers have complained about not being able to secure a table.
One Twitter user said: “Cool how every pub is already pre-booked for all of April and May.” Another said: “All the restaurants on my list are not showing bookings or fully booked.”
A third added: “Outdoor restaurants are already fully booked for easing of lockdown come April 12. British people are not playing games wow.”
Some pubs have taken twice as many reservations compared with when they reopened last July after the first lockdown.
Fuller’s, which will reopen 183 pubs from next month, said it had a “high level of bookings”. Restaurant chain D&D has 50,000 reservations already and is fully reserved “well into May” in some areas.
Wagamama said it had been inundated with interest about its outdoor dining restaurants from April. And Rick Stein’s restaurants have taken 20,000 bookings for their Cornish venues over the last two weeks alone.
It will be a welcome boost to the industry after nine months of closures. More than 660,000 hospitality jobs were axed in 2020 and
£71.8billion of sales revenue lost. A Fuller’s spokesman said: “People clearly can’t wait to get back to the pub, which is great to see. “We’ve invested heavily in our outside areas and now we just can’t wait to get our pubs open and welcome our customers back.”
D&D owner Des Gunewardena, who has 42 restaurants, added: “We are absolutely chocker. Some of our restaurants are full all the way through April and well into May.”
NEIL “Razor” Ruddock has said that lockdown has helped him mend his “bad ticker”.
The former Liverpool and West Ham hardman told last year how he was “technically dead” during a life-saving heart operation.
He had been confronted over his drinking by tearful footie pal Paul Merson on ITV show Harry’s Heroes.
But Razor said being stopped from going on benders down the boozer has helped him get healthier and lose a little weight.
He said: “Lockdown, I thought it would be a nightmare when you’re a fatty like me. But I had a bad ticker and lockdown’s come at the right time, do you know what I mean?
“I’ve got to stay in. I’m not allowed to go out to as many times down the pub with me friends, and lockdown’s done me a right favour.
“I’m sat on me backside for a year watching Bargain Hunt [inset].” Last summer the 52-year-old, married to
Leah Newman, was told his life was on the line unless he got surgery for a pacemaker to be fitted. Doctors found his heart was beating twice as fast as it should have been.
Before that could happen, he had to have a procedure whereby his heart was “zapped” several times – known as a cardioversion – which stopped his heart. He was “technically dead for several seconds”.
He said at the time: “They zap it seven times. If your heartbeat doesn’t return to normal after seven times, you’re in trouble.
“Mine came back the third time they did it – but it stopped and I was technically dead for several seconds.”
A month before he went under the knife, Razor was seen on Harry’s
Heroes: The Full English guzzling pints of beer, downing Jägerbombs and with a pack of cigarettes.
At one point Soccer Saturday pundit Paul Merson, himself a recovering alcoholic, sobbed when he witnessed the drinking session.
He said: “He’s told us he’s dying, yet he’s paralytic in a bar with a bra on his head – it winds me up.” Ruddock, who also played for Spurs and was capped once for England, admitted after his operation that his drinking had got out of control.
He confessed: “At my worst I was crazy – I was doing three or four bottles of wine a day, easy peasy, plus spirits, beers, cocktails.”
But despite the health scare he has claimed that after lockdown: “I’ll be straight down the pub with me mates.”