Major's lover tells of her three affairs

An army officer who said she was "pestered" into having an affair with a major admitted today to liaisons with three other officers, including a lesbian relationship.

Angela McConnell is claiming sexual-discrimination by the Army because she was allegedly treated differently from the major, who cannot be named for legal reasons, when their affair was exposed.

The warrant officer claims she was recommended for demotion to corporal or dismissal while the major was allowed to retire on a full pension.

She is also claiming, at an employment tribunal in Southampton, that she felt pressured into having the affair with the major because she believed her career in the King's Royal Hussars would be jeopardised if she rejected his advances.

Her third claim is that she felt threatened by a letter from the major's solicitor, believing it was an attempt to blackmail her into dropping the sexual discrimination case by threatening to expose one of her other affairs.

Ms McConnell, a mother of two from Wareham, Dorset, is expected to be discharged from the Army next month, having submitted her notice.

Today she told the hearing of previous affairs with Army officers. It is against the rules for commissioned officers to have sexual relationships with the lower ranks.

The 41-year-old, who joined the Army in June 1986, said that in that year she had an affair with another female officer, Sheila Strickland.

She also revealed she had a "brief liaison" with another major, who cannot be named, and an affair with another officer, Lieutenant Colonel Shaun Wilson. Ms McConnell claimed the affair with the major at the centre of the allegations was different because he worked in the same regiment at the time of the affair. She also claimed he was indiscreet. She said of her earlier affairs: "Because of discretion and the way they were carried out, I had absolutely no reason to believe they would ever be discovered."

Ms McConnell has claimed that the major - who was tipped to become commanding officer of the regiment - had had affairs with two other female soldiers, a captain and a staff sergeant, and told her he had been to bed with pop singer Andrea Corr.

He also told her he had had a "close relationship" with an American woman and visited the US at the Army's expense so he could meet her, Ms McConnell's witness statement says.

The statement also claims the major had a sexual encounter with a female captain in the regiment's medal room on Valentine's Day 2002. Ms McConnell adds: "It seemed to be a feature of his love life that he went for junior female soldiers. If their experience was the same as mine, they found it difficult to fend off an officer of such seniority and keep their careers intact."

Ms McConnell told the hearing the major first seduced her at an officers' Christmas drinks party. The fourmonth relationship was exposed when her husband George, 38, bugged her car and recorded an intimate conversation between the pair. He played the tape to her commanding officer.

The Ministry of Defence denies all allegations. The hearing continues.