'Shunned' soldier loses tribunal

Ms Blair is considering an appeal against the ruling

A former Northumberland-based soldier, who claimed she was driven out of the Army for complaining about being sexually assaulted has lost her claim of sex discrimination.

Lance Corporal Lindsay Blair, 27, was attacked by a drunken sergeant major in 1996, while serving in the Royal Dragoon Guards in Wiltshire. He was subsequently jailed and thrown out of the service.

She claimed that after moving to Albemarle barracks in Northumberland, she had been frozen out when colleagues learned she had made a complaint.

But an employment tribunal in Newcastle dismissed her claim, finding that officers she had referred to in the case had not been aware of the sexual assault.

She is now considering an appeal.

In a unanimous ruling, the tribunal said: "We conclude Ms Blair is wrong when she says that everybody knew about the sexual assault and was talking about it.

"It appears not to have been common knowledge at all."

Resignation letter

Ms Blair, originally from Ellington in Northumberland, also complained about a warning she had been given over a relationship she had started with a male officer, who is now her partner.

But the tribunal found the warrant officer who issued the warning was simply trying to tell her that some people in the Army had "fixed ideas" about such relationships.

In January 2002 she had written a resignation letter, in which she claimed the "personal feelings" of superior officers had clouded their judgment over disciplinary matters and her own personal life.

Her superior had spoken to her about the letter and asked her to withdraw the suggestions about the attitude of superior officers, but she had refused.

After the ruling a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said: "We take all allegations of discrimination incredibly seriously.

"Within the Army we have courses that all our soldiers have to attend and any soldier that comes forward to say that they are being bullied or sexually harassed will be taken very seriously."

'Common knowledge'

Ms Blair, who has waived her right to anonymity, told the tribunal how the months of torment had led to her dream job with the Army becoming a living nightmare.

She told the tribunal earlier: "Soon the nightmare I'd tried to bury was all over the camp.

"It was quickly apparent that everything that had happened to me was common knowledge. Suddenly I was a complete outcast."

Ms Blair, who now works in administration and lives in Sunderland, said her anxiety over her treatment eventually led her to leave her £17,000 a year post in January 2003.

She added: "I just couldn't take any more; it was for my own sanity."