Bound, stripped and dumped in a corridor: Teenage Army recruit says he is desperate to quit after comrades subjected him to humiliating abuse for refusing to go DRINKING

Soldier says he was bullied at British army barracks in Paderborn, Germany

New recruit to Rifles division says he was stripped and abused by his peers

The 18-year-old then went absent without leave and now faces punishment

Ministry of Defence says it has a 'zero tolerance' approach to bullying



Tied up, stripped and pinned to the floor by his comrades who have applied sniper tape to his genitalia - these horrifying photographs show how one British soldier was bullied by his colleagues after he said he didn't want to go out drinking.

Printed with the permission of the soldier, a teenager who has not given his name, they shed a shocking light on the brutal way he was treated at an army barracks in Germany.

The alleged victim, a new recruit who is just 18, is now back in Britain after going absent without leave after the bullying episode, and faces time in military prison.

Horrifying: The young soldier says he was pinned down, stripped and abused at a British army barracks



He says he is desperate to the leave the Army he had always dreamt of joining after bullying and abuse made his time in the Rifles division intolerable.

The recruit, who joined the Army two days after his 16th birthday, says the abuse which was photographed took place in March this year after he told his colleagues, all Riflemen of the same rank as him, that he didn't want to go out drinking with them.

He said he sensed something was going to happen and felt there was no way around being beaten, shortly before three men charged into his room.

'They stripped me and tied me up with sniper tape, then they wrapped a load of it around my head,' he said.

He told the Sunday Mirror he was dragged into a corridor where several soldiers took his picture before going outside for a cigarette, leaving him there.

The soldier says he managed to free himself, but days later the incident resurfaced when the distressing images of him were posted on Facebook.



The young soldier says he expects to join the Rifles division for a five-month tour of Afghanistan, pictured, after serving time in a military prison for going absent without leave

An investigation was launched after Royal Military Police officers saw the photographs online and arrested a man, but the young victim was too frightened to talk to the investigating NCO.

'Before he started to ask me about it, I told him I knew why I was there but that there was nothing in it and I wasn't pressing any charges.'



He said the officer did not push him on pressing charges, and the matter was left at that.

The soldier said he understood that the pressures of life as a soldier meant some form of banter was bound to happen, but said when his fiancee in Britain saw the Facebook photographs she was appalled.



'If blokes have a problem with each other, they are allowed to fight it out'

Alleged bullying victim, aged 18

The teenager said there were often fist fights between soldiers at 5 Rifles' base near Paderborn in Germany, and blamed officers for 'turning a blind eye'.

'If blokes have a problem with each other, they are allowed to fight it out,' he said.



He said the week he started training at Harrogate Army Foundation College, one youngster was pinned down and abused with a vacuum cleaner pipe.

Months after the attack with the sniper tape, the soldier decided he could not face the legal complexity of ending his contract with the Army early, and he fled home to the UK.

He says he knew what he was doing was serious and he knew he would be punished, but he had to get home to see his family.

The soldier says he now expects to serve time in a military prison before joining his regiment for a five-month tour of Afghanistan. He signed for a four-year contract and says he can give notice after three years and hopes to be discharged soon after that.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: 'We can be clear that the Armed Forces have a zero tolerance approach to all forms of abuse, bullying, and discrimination.

'All allegations will be thoroughly investigated, either by the civil or military police and, where appropriate, action will be taken.

'We have taken a number of steps to improve training and awareness concerning harassment and bullying to ensure that service personnel and their families know how to report concerns and what support is available to them.'

