Ex-soldier used in recruitment drive wins payout after years of abuse

A former soldier who appeared on recruitment posters has received a payout and an apology after taking the army to an employment tribunal over the racist and sexist abuse she was subjected to during her career.

- Hannah Al-Othman

While still in training, Kerry-Ann Knight was pictured on a recruitment poster above the words: “Your Army Needs You And Your Self Belief”.

Knight thought the army would offer stability, a type of family and the chance of a fantastic career. She had a “bright hope” she could pave the way for other young, black women .

After 12 years of service, those hopes are in tatters. After enduring more than a decade of racist and sexist abuse, Knight, who is now 33, was forced out of a role that she loved.

She joined 26 Regiment Royal Artillery after enlisting at 20 , and was posted to Germany.

In a witness statement to the tribunal, Knight said: “I had to serve alongside people that claimed to support the KKK, Britain First and/or the English Defence League .”

She said male soldiers would call her a “black bitch” but then add “I’d still shag you though .” “One evening I returned to my room to see someone had drawn images of huge black penises all over the wardrobes in my room,” she said in her statement.

When Knight appeared on an army recruitment poster she thought she had been asked because of her achievements in training.

“I didn’t know it was because I was going to be the only black woman in that regiment,” she told the Guardian. “I didn’t know what I was in for.”