Able Seaman Max Morris at Bulford Military Court Centre (Picture: Solent News & Photo Agency)
A Royal Navy sailor groped a sleeping colleague in the back of a taxi after doing shots through his eyeballs on a drunken night out, a court martial has been told.
Able Seaman Max Morris, 24, is said to have put his hand down the woman’s top and ‘rubbed’ her breast during the cab ride back to camp.
Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire heard the woman shouted at him when she woke up, but he just smiled at her ‘like it was normal’.
The complainant, who cannot be named, claims AB Morris made her feel ‘uncomfortable’ by making repeated ‘advances’ while they were out with other military personnel at a Walkabout bar.
She said the seaman ‘wouldn’t leave her alone’ and was ‘very much in your face’, dancing ‘ridiculously close’ to her.
Prosecuting, Flight Lieutenant Charlotte Adams said: ‘All parties were drinking and socialising throughout the night.
‘Morris entered [the bar] and drank and danced with [the woman]. She felt uncomfortable at these advances.
‘At one point he was taking shots of liquor to his eyes. He was behaving boorishly.’
AB Morris allegedly ‘rubbed’ the woman’s breast after putting his hand down her top during the cab ride home (Picture: Solent News & Photo Agency)
The court heard AB Morris, based at HMS Neptune at Faslane, Scotland – best known as the home of the UK’s nuclear submarines – returned to camp in a taxi with the woman and two other colleagues.
Flt Lt Adams went on: ‘The taxi was a six-seater and [the woman and AB Morris] sat next to each other. She fell asleep in the taxi, and he had his right arm around her.
‘He had his hand down her top contacting her bare skin of breast. Once [she] had been woken up she felt his hand on her breast and moved to get away from Morris.
‘She shouted something along the lines of “why do you think that is acceptable?”
‘Morris didn’t respond to her and disregarded the entire incident and offered no apology.’
Having reported the incident, the woman was interviewed by investigators and the court heard she told them: ‘He touched my boob while I was asleep in the cab.
‘I had drunk quite a lot and when I drink, I get quite sleepy. I woke up to [one of the friends in the taxi] screaming at Morris. I realised his hand was in my top, skin on skin.
‘His hand was rubbing my boob. I just flipped out. I pushed my arm up, I moved his hand straight out the way.
‘I then started having a go and he just sat there calmly smiling like it’s a normal thing. Morris just sat there smiling like it was normal.’
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She told the court that in the club before the taxi ride home, AB Morris had been dancing uncomfortably close to her and other women when it was ‘obvious’ they ‘didn’t want him around’.
‘He wouldn’t leave me alone,’ she added. ‘He’d be all over you but ridiculously close. He was very much in your face; we were just having a nice night out and he was just odd.
‘He just wouldn’t leave me alone – it was just constant.’
HMS Neptune – also known as the Clyde Royal Navy base – is home to the core of Britain’s submarine fleet including its Trident nuclear force.
AB Morris denies one count of sexual assault.
The trial continues.
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Able Seaman Max Morris is said to have put his hand down the woman’s top and ‘rubbed’ her breast during the cab ride back to camp.