Medic 'refused rifle training'

A ROYAL Navy medic who was a conscientious objector refused to undergo rifle training on "moral and ethical" grounds, a court martial trial heard yesterday.

Leading Medical Assistant Michael Lyons is accused of a charge of wilful disobedience of a lawful order. The 24-year-old, from Plymouth, Devon, was sent for a pre-deployment course on how to use a rifle at HMS Excellent, Portsmouth, in September last year.

But when ordered to commence the course by Warrant Officer Robert Bainbridge in the presence of a military policeman, he refused and asked to be "rerolled on non-combative duties", the hearing was told.

He objected as a medic to being trained to use a weapon and he believed that the war in Afghanistan was unlawful.

Commander Darren Reed, prosecuting, said that Lyons told police that: "He felt he wasn't able to carry out the order on moral and ethical grounds. He did believe that was an unlawful order."

Mr Bainbridge said: "I wasn't there to send him to war, I was there to teach him how to use a rifle."

Regulating Police Officer James Houghton, who witnessed the order being given, said that Lyons was "polite at all times" and had simply stated his "moral objections".