Shropshire sergeant guilty of touching and kissing cadet
An Shropshire army cadet sergeant has been convicted of inappropriately kissing and touching a teenage cadet at a training camp.
William Christopher Farrell was found guilty of two charges of sexual assault following a four-day trial at Shrewsbury Crown Court.
The 61-year-old, of Church Green, Cockshutt, near Ellesmere, was cleared of two other allegations of sexual assault.
Judge Peter Barrie adjourned sentence for reports until April 16 and Farrell was allowed bail.
Farrell had denied all four charges, which were said to have happened at the Nesscliffe Training Camp in May, 2016.
He was said to have kissed the girl cadet on the cheek shortly after arriving at the camp for a weekend residential training course.
The following day he touched her lower back and bottom during a training exercise.
On the direction of the judge, Farrell was cleared of another allegation of kissing the cadet.
He was also found not guilty by the jury of an incident of allegedly touching the cadet when she was in a car.
His behaviour came to light when another cadet reported her concerns to officials.
Farrell was said to greet cadets by hugging the boys and kissing the girls but had denied that it was ever sexual.
He also denied touching the girl during the training exercise or in the car.
Defence witnesses had told the court that Farrell was seen as "a father figure" by cadets and the hugging and putting an arm round cadets was part of his "bubbly personality".
