Bullying Brit 60% Innocent

The court-martial of former HMS Talent CO Captain Robert Tarrant continued today, with the presiding officer directing an acquittal on three of the five "ill-treatment of subordinate" charges lodged against him, ruling that the prosecution had not presented a strong enough case for conviction. Capt. Tarrant then took the stand, and used soccer analogies in an attempt to prove his innocence:

"Tarrant, who now has a Whitehall desk job, said that he had been happy with the crew he inherited when he took over as captain of Talent but was concerned that some new arrivals lacked experience.
"My assessment was that it was going to be like taking a footballer from the third division and in six or seven weeks them playing in the Premier league."

Expect non-guilty verdicts on the remaining charges within a few minutes of the panel being sent out. The guy's clearly guilty of being a jerk, but there's nothing in military law to cover that particular crime, as many of us know from first-hand experience in dealing with people like Capt. Tarrant.