Band major beat up chaplain

The bandmaster of the Coldstream Guards today admitted beating up an army chaplain who had accused him of having an affair with his wife.

Colonel Leslie Bryan, 53, a chaplain with the Queen's Guards Regiment, was taken to hospital with head injuries after the fight with Major Ian McElligott, who conducts the band that plays at state occasions including Trooping the Colour.

Major McElligott appeared at a court-martial today on charges that could lead to him being dismissed from the Army and jailed.

On July 5 last year, Col Bryan visited several hotels in West London believing that his wife, Avril, was meeting Major McElligott, 44. At about 5pm he went into the lobby of the Thistle Hotel in Buckingham Palace Road and found his wife and Major McElligott kissing at the bar. According to eye-witnesses he "snapped" and punched the major in the face. A struggle between the two men was broken up by hotel staff and both were escorted outside.

Col Bryan then took out his mobile phone, saying he was going to call the police, but Major McElligott threw it into the road. Believing that the chaplain was going to hit him again the major punched Col Bryan in the face and kicked him. The chaplain then ran down the street to a bus stop. Major McElligott followed and punched him repeatedly in the face in what one witness described as "a frenzied attack".

One of the hotel bar staff who had followed the two men outside restrained the major in a bear hug.

Police were called and Reverend Bryan was taken to St Thomas' Hospital where he was treated for a 2cm-deep cut on his cheek, facial bruising and a fractured cheekbone.

Major McElligott was later questioned by the army's special investigations branch at the Coldstream Guards HQ in Chelsea.

Today he faced a panel of five high-ranking army officers and a judge advocate in Colchester, Essex. He is accused of inflicting actual bodily harm on Colonel Bryan.

Major McElligott joined the army as a private. A talented trumpeter and musician, he developed a reputation for leadership and was made bandmaster of the Royal Green Jackets Normandy band in 1985. Seven years later he moved to the School of Music in Twickenham and led the Coldstream Guards band.

Defending, Clive Fletcher-Wood said: "Major McElligott is not a man who anyone knowing him before this incident would have expected to be standing in front of any court in any circumstances." He said that the offence was "entirely out of character for a mild-mannered professional musician."

The two men met in 1989 when they were serving in Gibraltar and their families became acquainted. They had both been posted to the Wellington Barracks in London when the incident took place. In April last year, the colonel began to suspect that the major was having an affair with his wife. On the day of the assault Mrs Bryan had gone out in the morning saying that she was going to meet a friend, but her husband suspected she was going to meet Major McElligott.

Mr Fletcher-Wood said that Major McElligott often counselled the wives of servicemen when their marriages were in difficulty. He said: "In this case Major McElligott got too deeply involved emotionally and accepts that it was an improper relationship. Mrs Bryan had contacted Major McElligott early that day and pleaded with him to meet her. He did so because he believed she was in distress and believed he could help her."

The case continues.