Red Cap girl busted for barrack strip reveals how she was victimised by sexist bosses

London, May 2 (ANI): Nicky Robinson-Humphreys, a former corporal with the Royal Military Police, who faced a court martial for stripping naked with male colleagues in the barracks after getting drunk, has blasted her sexist army bosses.

Nicky, 27, has now quit the RMP despite coming clear of charges of indulging in oral sex before soldiers and spreading false rumours of having sex with a pilot in a plane.

“What happened to me shows sexism is still rife,” the News of the World quoted her, as saying.

She went on: “I admit I was very naive taking part in the rituals. I thought I could be one of the lads. But there is still one rule for women and another for the men.

“I want people to know that women are still getting singled out in the army. When I went to my platoon sergeant for help he just said, ‘The worst thing they ever did was let women join up’.”

Nicky, who joined the Red Caps in 2004, said: “At first I was shocked by the initiations and rituals. New recruits were all forced to drink yards of ale spiked with strong spirits and even urine. It was tough but everyone was treated the same. I was drawn into their culture and the longer you stay the more robust you get.”

However, her career took a plunge in February 2007 when she took part in a stripping ritual at her corporals’ mess in Germany.

Snaps of the night later lead to her being nicknamed Red Baps.

Nicky recollected: “I was in the mess with about five other men when the company clerk shouted, ‘Naked bar!’. It’s a strange ritual in which everyone else takes some or all of their clothes off. I’d seen it happen before but I’d never got involved. That night everyone stripped naked. For a long time I was the only one who didn’t.

“I considered everyone there my mates and I wanted to be one of the lads so I joined in.

“I had on a red t-shirt and wasn’t wearing a bra so I took off my top. I was wearing skinny black jeans and kitten heels but I then took those off too. For a long time I still had my pants on but I didn’t want to be a stick in the mud so they came off as well.

“There was a white marine military police hat behind the bar so I put that on and someone had one of our red caps and I used that to protect my modesty.

“We all knew there were pictures being taken and we had a laugh and posed for some of them. But very quickly we asked the clerk, who had taken them, to delete them. None of us wanted the photos to come out.

“They look quite raunchy but nothing sexual happened. It was pretty standard for men to get naked though and get their willies out.

“It goes on in the mess all the time. But that night was the first time I’d got naked. Next day I went to see the colleague who took the pictures and watched as he deleted them but someone must have got a copy.”

Even though Nicky forgot the incident it came back to haunt her four months later.

She was with her then boyfriend Sgt Major Alan Robinson, 37, of the Royal Logistic Corps.

She recalled: “Alan was blind drunk.

“When someone shouted ‘Naked bar’, he got his willy out.

“I joked that if he didn’t put it away I’d bite it off. He grabbed my head and pulled me towards his crotch. That was as far as it went. Next day the rumour was put round that I’d been having oral sex in the bar.”

Nicky and Alan brought before their superiors and told they would be investigated.

After Nicky’s February strip pics appeared in a paper, both were court martialled even though Alan was not involved in the first incident.

Nicky said: “After the photos came out officers were trying to bring my name into the mud. They made up malicious stuff about me having affairs and even started a rumour I’d had sex on an aeroplane. They were trying to make me look even worse.”

Everyone in the pictures had their warrant cards removed for three months, which meant suspension.

Nicky said: “After those three months everyone had their cards returned - except me.

“My Regimental Sergeant Major said I’d let the corps down. I became stressed. I went to see my platoon sergeant for help.

“He said I was a woman and women were ‘weak’. He said the ‘worst thing they ever did was allow women into the army’.

“I feel really bitter about what happened. Alan’s bosses were fine with him over it all. They told him not to worry.” Meanwhile she was put on “menial” duties.

“It was obvious I was in disgrace.

“I tried to show what happened was normal mess behaviour. I had photos of a guy being pinned to the floor and them simulating gay sex. But my bosses said it was ‘horseplay’.”

In July 2008 she and Alan were cleared of any wrongdoing.

Nicky said: “I feel it was all malicious - like someone has sabotaged my career. I was the best shot in the company and had been recommended to go to Sandhurst for officer training. I left the military police last June. I didn’t want to work for two-faced backstabbers any more.”

Nicky is now working as a beautician. (ANI)