Former GCHQ boss admits assault during ‘sexualised’ party game
A FORMER GCHQ chief was caught by his partner assaulting a female guest at a dinner party by resting his hand on her knee during a “truth or dare” game.
Brian Lord, the ex-deputy director of intelligence and cyber operations at the surveillance agency, denied sexually assaulting the woman, after a court heard yesterday that he had placed his hand on her knee while his partner sat metres away.
Lord, who has received an OBE from the Queen in recognition of his 21 years service at GCHQ, was accused of placing his hand on the woman’s knee during a “sexualised” game at a dinner party, and resting it there for “two to three minutes”.
He later pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of common assault, after a lastminute submission from the prosecution. Lord, 56, who left GCHQ to work in the private sector in 2013, is said to have committed the offence while attending a colleague’s dinner party in Churchdown, near Gloucester, in November last year.
Gloucester Crown Court heard that the victim had met Lord only a handful of times before the party. Robert Duvall, the prosecutor, said Lord had placed his hand on her knee while guests engaged in a number of risqué party games. Mr Duvall said that Lord’s victim had been caused “embarrassment and awkwardness” by his advances, but felt unable to say anything.
He said that Natasha Marshall, Lord’s partner, was believed to have seen the incident and spoken with the woman before confronting him over it.
Rosemary Collins, defending, told the court that Lord had placed his hand on the woman’s knee during “sexualised party games” but never intended any “disrespect to her at all”. “He accepts it was something that was stupid, done in drink,” she said.
“At one stage he had his hand on his partner’s knee as well. It was an action which was friendly.
Ordering Lord to pay £300 in victim compensation and administrative costs, Judge Michael Cullum described the former spy chief ’s behaviour as “entirely out of character”.