Police probe Sandhurst instructor’s ‘sex assault on recruit’
AN INSTRUCTOR at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst has been arrested by police on suspicion of sexually assaulting a male officer cadet, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Staff Sergeant Michael Wright, 37, has been removed from the prestigious British Army academy i n Berkshire after an alleged incident which is now the subject of a criminal investigation.
Last night, police confirmed SSgt Wright’s arrest following the alleged sex assault in Guildford, Surrey, on March 1.
Shortly after the incident is said to have occurred, the alleged victim made a formal complaint to police which led to SSgt Wright’s arrest. The case is being investigated by civilian police rather than the Royal Military Police because the alleged incident took place outside Army working hours and not on Ministry of Defence (MoD) property.
Defence sources said last night that as many as five cadets at Sandhurst, where Princes William and Harry trained, had raised concerns about SSgt Wright’s conduct.
A Surrey Police spokesman said: ‘Following an allegation of a sexual assault in Guildford on Thursday, March 1, a person from Berkshire has been arrested. They have been released from police custody on conditional bail.’
The MoD said it could not comment on the case specifically because of the ongoing criminal investigation but stressed that it took misconduct allegations very seriously.
The instructor from Dudley, West Midlands, had kept a Twitter profile under the name @SoldierBoy80 on which he wrote about himself: ‘I’m in the Army, like meeting new people and travelling. Enjoy cooking, keeping fit and red wine… and dancing.’ He has since closed the account down. SSgt Wright, of the Intelligence Corps, has been an instructor on the Leadership Development Course at Sandhurst since May 2016, according to his profile on the job website LinkedIn. Since his arrest he has been transferred to the Intelligence Corps base at Chicksands, Bedfordshire. SSgt Wright took down his account on LinkedIn shortly after The Mail on Sunday approached the MoD about his case on Friday. It had stated that he joined the British Army in 2001 as a junior analyst. He was later promoted to a senior analyst’s position in the Intelligence Corps in 2008.
Hundreds of Army officer cadets are trained at Sandhurst every year. The college, which was founded in 1812, is hugely respected and only officers and non-commissioned officers with outstanding personal reports are considered for posts as instructors.