Army sergeant, 36, jailed after holding knife to colleague's neck

British Army sergeant, 36, is locked up after drunkenly holding an 8in ‘jungle’ knife to the neck of a lower ranked colleague because he wanted to show him who was ‘top dog’

A British Army sergeant has been locked up after he held an eight inch ‘jungle’ knife to the neck of a lower ranked colleague because he wanted to show him who was ‘top dog’.

Burly Sgt Matthew Crews was ‘heavily intoxicated’ when he chased and threatened the frightened junior with the weapon while on a foreign posting during July last year.

The 36-year-old, who is a multi launch rocket system (MLRS) specialist, had become enraged when he returned from a social event and Gunner Oliver Palmer called him a ‘mong’.

A court martial heard Sgt Crews – of 26 Royal Artillery Regiment – retaliated during the ‘stupid altercation’ and subsequently threatened him with the knife as he felt he had to show him who was ‘top dog’.

Now, Sgt Crews has been sentenced to a year’s military detention and dismissed from the army as the UK’s highest military judge said, ‘Sergeants cannot go around threatening their subordinates with knives’.

Prosecuting, Captain Huge-Guy Lorriman, told Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire that the incident took place on July 28 of last year, during operation ‘Iron Surge’ in Estonia.

Sgt Matthew Crews was ‘heavily intoxicated’ when he chased and threatened the frightened junior with the weapon while on a foreign posting during July last year 

Cpt Lorriman said Sgt Crews of the 26 Regiment Royal Artillery has gone into Tapa town centre before returning to army accommodation.

Sgt Crews later admitted to being ‘heavily intoxicated’ at the time, but insisted he was ‘aware of what he was doing’.

Cpt Lorriman told the court he and Gunner Palmer – who has since left the British Army – were both in the corridor of the accommodation when the ‘exchange’ occurred. It was heard during this exchange, ‘harsh banter’ occurred which resulted in Gunner Palmer calling Sgt Crews a slur.

He said: ‘The corridor was busy with many service persons passing by and or observing the incident that took place. [There was an] exchange between the two men in which Gunner Palmer called Sergeant Crews a ”mong”. He told the complainant not to call him a ‘mong’. The defendant then went into his room and re-emerged with a long black knife.’

Cpt Lorriman told the court the knife was eight inches long. He added: ‘The defendant burst out his room with the knife and when [Gunner Palmer] took a few steps back he started chasing him.’

The court heard Gunner Palmer ran away from Sgt Crews and hid on the accommodation’s roof. Whilst he was running, the flip flops Gunner Palmer was wearing came off.

Cpt Lorriman continued: ‘After Sergeant Crews had gone, Gunner Palmer went back downstairs to retrieve his flip flops. The flip flops had been moved and were outside Sergeant Crews’ room at the time. When he went to get the flip flops, the defendant came out of his room.

‘He had the knife still with him, it was sheathed in the waistband of his shorts. Sergeant Crews pulled the knife out of his waistband, unsheathed it and pointed it at the complainant.’

It was heard that at this point, there was a ‘scuffle’ which resulted in Gunner Palmer being ‘held up’ against the wall.

Sgt Crews wearing a Covid mask outside Bulford Military Court

Cpt Lorriman added: ‘It was at that moment where the defendant took the knife out again, unsheathed it and held it to the throat of the complainant. Gunner Palmer said that the knife was pressed up against his neck so that if it had moved, it would have cut him.

‘This made him really worried, he was scared. He was afraid and trying to stay completely still. The complainant said he was unsure how long this lasted but it was a maximum of one minute.’

After the incident, Sgt Crews was interviewed by the police. Cpt Lorriman added: ‘He knew it was wrong, he felt that as a sergeant he had to do something to show that he was still, in his words, “top dog”.’

Mitigating, Fiona Edington, said Sgt Crews was ‘acting in a way he shouldn’t have done’. She urged Judge Advocate General Alan Large – the highest ranking military judge in the UK – to consider alternative punishments to imprisonment and dismissal.

Ms Edington said: ‘In my submissions, we can do better in punishing him than just putting him on the street. We can reform this man.’

Captain Huge-Guy Lorriman told Bulford Military Court that the incident took place on July 28 of last year

She said that knives are ‘abhorrent’ but said without intending to ‘victim blame’, Gunner Palmer ‘shouldn’t have called him a mong either’.

Ms Edington also asked the judge to consider the shortage of MLRS detachment commanders in the British Army, of which Sgt Crews belongs.

Sgt Crews admitted threatening with an offensive weapon in a public place.

Sentencing him, His Honour Judge Large said: ‘We have no doubt that when you are on the field you are a good soldier but that night, you weren’t. [The offence] was committed in an operational environment. Gunner Palmer was a subordinate, junior in rank.

‘Sergeants can not go around threatening their subordinates with knives.’

Judge Large said Sgt Crews should have tried to de-escalate the ‘stupid altercation’ that broke out between him and the gunner.

He dismissed the Sergeant from the British Army and sentenced him to 12 months in military detention.

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