Soldier who filmed himself having sex with woman sentenced

Corporal George Rogers, 26, sent the video - which was taken without the victim's knowing - to a group of four of his pals the morning after, a court heard.

The 'extremely drunk' armoured engineer 'publicly humiliated' the woman, who was caused 'extraordinary distress' as gossip about the video spread at her work, leading her to quit her job.

After admitting to sending an offensive message by public communication network, Cpl Rogers, of the 26 Engineer Regiment, was given a 12-month community order on Monday, March 4, which includes 90 hours of unpaid work.

Corporal George Rogers has been ordered to pay £500 compensation to the victim (Image: Solent News)

Prosecutor Robert Salame told Salisbury Magistrates' Court that the offence took place in October 2022 after a night out in Ludgershall, near Cpl Rogers' address at Swinton barracks.

Mr Salame said: "The defendant and the victim had had a night out and in the early hours had consensual sex. The defendant had filmed the encounter.

"Prior to 7am he shared the video file in a friend Snapchat group."

The victim went to work later that day where the video was 'drawn to her attention'.

Mr Salame continued: "She subsequently had messages and telephones conversations with the defendant about the deletion of the video.

"The defendant apologised."

SEE ALSO: Two Wiltshire pub managers with low food hygiene ratings speak out

In a statement read to the court, the woman said she felt 'on edge' and 'uncomfortable' in public as a result.

She said: "This video was taken without my knowledge or consent and it was shared without my knowledge or consent."

"Then again [it was] shared further to a group chat.

"To this day I had not seen the video, nor do I want to.

"I suffer from social anxiety, that people are staring at me and feel that they have seen it."

She revealed she had to leave her job because of the incident which has portrayed her in a 'bad light' and put a 'stigma' on her.

On being 'publicly humiliated', she added: "Other members of staff and management knew about it.

"I was told 'I had had a customer come in and tell me there's a video going around of you having your backdoor smashed in' and 'people will think you're easy'."

She said the distribution of the video made her feel 'physically ill', 'insecure' and eventually led to her having a breakdown.

She added: "I felt an absolute disconnect from my body.

"It made me feel like my body wasn't mine anymore."

Nick Redhead, defending, said the soldier had been 'extremely drunk' after the night out before the 'extremely unsavoury business'.

He said the video had been shared in a Snapchat group with four others, only lasted 'five or six seconds' and had not been in 'general circulation'.

Mr Redhead added: "[Cpl Rogers] is rightly ashamed of behaving in the way that he did.

"It is clear significant distress has been caused - that was never his intention. The manner of distribution suggests it was something to be seen by his mates."

Chair magistrate Stephen Harrison said: "The implications and consequences of his behaviour were clearly not apparent to the defendant."

Addressing Cpl Rogers, he added: "We acknowledge you are apologetic and feel ashamed of your behaviour.”

But listing aggravating factors, he said: "The impact this had had on the individual - extraordinary distress, I cannot imagine the distress this will have caused.

"We accept by doing this you didn't have any malicious intent - it was a silly, irresponsible prank.

"We have decided the appropriate sentence should be a community order for 12 months."

In addition to the £500 compensation and unpaid work, Rogers was also given up to 10 rehabilitation requirement days, court costs and a victim surcharge totalling £199.

The court heard Cpl Rogers also faces a military disciplinary procedure.