Cleared in 57 minutes, Navy boss who slapped female officer’s bottom

A COURT martial panel took less than an hour yesterday to clear a Royal Navy commander of sexual assault for slapping a colleague’s bottom.

Cdr Steven Heap, 48, allegedly left the senior officer’s bottom ‘sore’ after shocking her with two ‘firm slaps’ during a prestigious naval base social function, despite meeting her just minutes earlier.

Cdr Heap, who received an MBE from Prince Charles, told the hearing he was very drunk when he slapped the woman’s backside on the dance floor, but said it was a ‘prank’ and that he was ‘showboating’.

The woman told the court martial that his right hand struck her right buttock so hard that it left her sore and she fled the dance floor, only for him to repeat the action 20 minutes later. Representing ‘Prank’: Cdr Steven Heap Cdr Heap at Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire, Lieutenant Commander Verity Fane-Bailey admitted it was an ‘unpalatable’ incident and ‘unbecoming’ of an officer of his rank.

But she begged the panel not to ruin his career by treating it as a criminal or sexual offence.

The panel of five senior male officers cleared Cdr Heap of two counts of sexual assault after just 57 minutes of deliberations. The judge had instructed them that if they thought a reasonable man would view the slapping as sexual they could convict Cdr Heap.

Assistant judge Advocate General Robert Hill said: ‘To convict him, you must be sure there was a sexual purpose to the slaps or you must be sure that in the circumstances a reasonable man could think it was sexual. You may think a man slapping a woman’s bottom is sexual.’

Prosecutors had alleged that the commander, who joined the Navy as a submariner 30 years ago, had been ‘sexually motivated’ when he slapped the woman’s backside at the Navy base Christmas party.

But Cdr Heap, who was based at HMS Excellent in Port- smouth at the time, told the court that he thought he was being ‘amusing’.

He said: ‘Yes, I did touch her. I moved towards her and I made a gesture, pointing to distract her and then slapped her on the bum.

‘I thought it would be amusing, it was childish showboating, a ridiculous moment.

‘The second time was almost exactly the same, but without the distraction. I don’t believe it was sexual assault. It was just drunken buffoonery by me.’

When asked by prosecutor Wing Commander Michael Saunders what he found amusing in slapping a woman’s bottom, Cdr Heap replied: ‘Today, absolutely nothing. At the time, I thought it would be amusing.

‘I was not trying it on with her. If I was I would not have gone about it in that manner.

‘It was like a childhood prank where you say, “oh, what’s that on your jumper”, and then slapping the person on the chin when they look down.’

‘It was childish showboating’