A military police sergeant who has accused his ex-wife of a year-long campaign of domestic cruelty has told a court he had two affairs during their time together.
Michael Harris claims his then-partner Rebecca Egerton-Jones made his life “hell” while they were based at Leuchars Army Base in Fife.
The 40-year-old fought back tears as he told Perth Sheriff Court how his “possessive” wife refused to let him go out with colleagues, monitored his movements using a tracking app and went through his phone and laptop.
Former military police officer Egerton-Jones is on trial accused of a course of conduct against her ex, which caused him fear or alarm, between August 2018 and July 2019.
She denies the charge.
Physical abuse
Sgt Harris, who has toured Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan, said he had been with Egerton-Jones for 13 years.
They were married for about a decade.
They met at work in Germany, where she was his chief corporal.
She left the army in 2014, two years before they both moved to the former RAF Leuchars site and into a house in the “married quarter” on Beaufort Close.
Sgt Harris, 40, described his ex as “quite possessive,” said she had “outbursts” and wanted to know where he was “all the time”.
Asked by fiscal depute Joanne Ritchie if Egerton-Jones had been physically abusive, he told the court she had “clawed and slapped” him during an argument he claimed she started about “lack of physical intimacy.”
Giving evidence from behind a screen, he told the court she then ripped his shirt.
Moments later, when he bent down to tie his boot laces, she struck him on the back of head, he told the court.
Topless photo
Sgt Harris, now a senior armoured vehicle instructor at Catterick Garrison, said Egerton-Jones would regularly check his phone or laptop when he was out of the room.
“I wasn’t allowed to have passwords.
“If I had a password that must mean that I’ve got something to hide.”
The court heard Egerton-Jones discovered a photo of a topless woman on his hard-drive, while he was working in Germany.
He told jurors it was the sister of an old ex-girlfriend.
Egerton-Jones threatened to send the image to the woman’s husband, Sgt Harris said.
“She ended up sending it to her father – to show that she wasn’t messing around.”
GPS app
Sgt Harris, known to friends and workmates as “Bomber”, said he suggested installing a tracking app on his phone so she could see where he was at all times.
“It was just to keep her happy.
“I just wanted to go about my daily life and avoid conflict.”
He said: “Initially it made life easier, but as time went on it just became difficult.”
Sgt Harris said on one occasion he went to St Andrews for coffee with his friend and colleague, fellow military police officer Adam Glover.
“I got a call from Rebecca.
“She was shouting and swearing down the phone.
“She was asking: ‘Why are you in St Andrews? Who are you with? You’re not meant to be in St Andrews.’
“I just had to go back.”
Quiz night
Sgt Harris said he was made fun of by workmates because his wife would not let him go out with them.
He told the jury he had to make an excuse not to attend a quiz night after Egerton-Jones berated him and told him: “I’m going to be the one that ends you.”
“Then she got a call from her colleagues at Specsavers to go to the same quiz night,” he said.
“So she turned up there with her friends.
“I remember getting made fun of the next day.
“It was fine for her to go out but not for me.”
Pass revoked
Sgt Harris told the court his wife regularly showed up at his work unannounced “just to see where I was and what I was doing.”
He said: “The guys used to joke about it, maybe because they felt uncomfortable so they made light of it.
“It wasn’t great to have your colleagues see you as the subject of pity or ridicule.”
After Sgt Harris decided to end the relationship and move out of the family home, she still attended at his office, he said.
“I hid in the back room when she came looking for me,” he said.
Eventually Egerton-Jones’ pass was revoked and she was not allowed to access the base.
After she moved to her parents home in Burnley, Sgt Harris used a locksmith to get back into the couple’s home.
He said she had taken a number of items, including his passport and a war medal that belonged to his grandfather.
Affairs
Sgt Harris said he had felt trapped in the relationship. “If I tried to escape I knew something bad would happen.
“She’s a nasty, vindictive person and I wouldn’t put anything past her.”
Cross-examined by solicitor Ian Houston, Sgt Harris said did not ask for the missing items back until about a year and a half later.
He admitted he had had two affairs but denied three others – including his current wife who also worked with him at RAF Leuchars.
Egerton-Jones found out about one of the other women – a member of assembly staff in Afghanistan – while going through his laptop, Sgt Harris said.
He said he made up an affair with a French woman.
Asked by Mr Houston if he resented his wife had ranked higher than him, he replied: “Absolutely not.”
The trial before Sheriff William Wood continues.
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