Marine 'forced to shave body hair' in punishment game

The Faslane Naval Base is also home to Britain's fleet of Trident nuclear submarines

A Royal Marine has told a court martial he was made to shave off all his body hair in an informal punishment game.

Corporals Danny Foster, 30, and Philip Beer, 34, face charges of ill-treatment of a subordinate while he was guarding Faslane Naval Base.

Forfeits were allegedly given out based on TV show Deal Or No Deal at a gathering called "Family Time".

Foster denies three charges of ill-treatment and Beer denies two counts at the ongoing hearing in Portsmouth.

The alleged incidents took place while the troop was tasked with guarding Faslane Naval Base, home of the fleet's nuclear submarines on the River Clyde, and at the Royal Naval Armaments Depot at nearby Coulport, where the nuclear weapons are stored.

The court heard that members of 5 Troop 43 Commando would attend "Family Time" daily in the television room.

Marine Ryan Dunn, one of two alleged victims, told the court the two defendants would "lead" the punishments handed out.

He said the punishments would be either chosen by the throw of a dice or by playing a version of Deal Or No Deal using a PowerPoint presentation projected on to the wall.

One of the marines would play the show's host Noel Edmonds, including wearing a fake beard.

'New Born Baby'

He said that on one occasion he had completed the Deal Or No Deal game and had come out with one of the more lenient punishments when Cpl Beer, acting as The Banker, stepped in and gave him the "New Born Baby" punishment which involved shaving off all body hair.

He said that the following morning Cpl Beer asked another marine to inspect him and then ordered him to shave again but he refused.

He said that the two defendants then ordered him to run repeatedly up and down a hill for about one-and-a-half hours while carrying scaffolding poles and other heavy items from a building site.

He said he was also ordered to put a dirty mop bucket on his head.

A further punishment was to carry a 24kg kettle bell for 24 hours and also carry 20 to 30 water barrels, weighing 20kg each, to the top of a hill before bringing them down again.

The marine said: "I remember thinking while it was going on, I thought I was meant to be operationally deployable and how was this meant to be helping me do my job?"

The hearing continues.