Corporals ‘used spoof of TV game’ to hand out punishment

Court martial told of humiliations involving whipping, sex acts and shaving

TWO Royal Marine corporals played a Deal or No Dealstyle game to hand out degrading and painful punishments to junior comrades, a court martial heard.

Corporals Philip Beer and Danny Foster allegedly oversaw a nightly gathering of their troop of 43 Commando, called “family time”, during which they punished “professional failings”.

Penalties included being hung upside down and whipped, stripping for a fullbody shave, and being forced to commit sex acts while viewing gay pornography, Portsmouth Military Court yesterday heard.

The method of meting out punishment was based on the Noel Edmonds game show, with members of the troop forced to stand and pick boxes, each of which contained a punishment.

One of the troop would then play The Banker, offering alternative forfeits to the marines, which they could swap for the ones chosen.

The ordeals included one named Django, after Django

Unchained, the Quentin Tarantino film about slavery, which required victims to be hung upside down and whipped.

Another, named Newborn Baby, involved making a marine shave all the hair from their body. The hearing was told that the “kangaroo court” took place while the marines were guarding high-security bases including Faslane and Coulport, where Britain’s nuclear deterrent submarines and warheads are kept.

Lt Col Graham Coombes, prosecuting, said “family time” had acted as “an unofficial way of dealing with any professional failings that may have happened, ranging from not wiping up a coffee stain to not looking after troop equipment properly”.

One charge related to a group of Royal Marines forced to commit a sex act to gay pornography shown to them on a laptop.

One of the marines given the punishment said: “I felt disgusted and degraded having to do it...i had no power against it; I could not say no.”

He added that he had developed post traumatic stress disorder as a result of his treatment.

He told the court: “That does affect my memory and I try to put what went on out of my mind, but I do remember what happened.”

Lt Col Coombes said a second charge involved a further punishment, Django, involved a victim having to hang upside down from a bar and being “reefed” (whipped) with a rubber gym mat.

The court was told that when the victim of the shaving task did not complete it to Cpl Beer’s satisfaction, he was given another 15 minutes to complete it.

He refused, so was given a “thrashing”, which involved him running up and down a hill in full weapons gear and carrying 20 large water bottles both up and down.

Lt Col Coombes added: “To find a charge proved, you must be sure that the defendants were treated badly by the corporals.”

Cpl Foster denies three counts of ill treatment of a subordinate, while Cpl Beer denies two counts.

The hearing continues.

‘I felt disgusted and degraded, I had no power against it; I could not say no’