A SENIOR British Army officer has been sent home from his United Nations post in Nicosia after confessing to an affair with a Danish UN official who worked at the same office, according to The Sun.
The love affair blossomed after Lieutenant Colonel Greg Butt, 43, met the Danish beauty, a 40-year-old divorcee, at his new station in Cyprus, the tabloid reported.
The father of three, a Falklands War hero, kept the affair secret for as long as possible, but failed to avoid gossip spreading through military circles.
Colonel Butt subsequently went voluntarily to his superiors and confessed the liaison. He was immediately removed from his Commanding Officer’s post in 16 Regiment Royal Artillery and is currently awaiting instruction from his superiors.
His family were stationed at army quarters in east London during the six-month posting. His wife is reportedly devastated, while a close friend of Butt’s told The Sun that the affair was no ordinary fling but a meaningful affair of the heart.
Regiment spokesperson, Dee Holden, told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that Butt’s presence would be sorely missed by the men and women of 16 Regiment Royal Artillery. His replacement, Lieutenant Colonel David Scouller, took over the reins last weekend, while the unit has continued to perform its functions and duties.
An army source explained that workplace affairs were not forbidden per se, but that a Values and Standards Paper gave employees strict guidelines on behaviour. Butt would have passed through the service testing procedure, which, in effect, asks whether the regiment’s operational effectiveness or his commitment to the regiment were affected by his actions.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said Butt’s military future would be determined pending the outcome of an internal investigation into the affair. If his position as a commanding officer was deemed untenable, he could be asked to resign his commission, thereby ending his career.
The official explained that army rules obliged officers to conduct themselves in a manner that would maintain their credibility among soldiers who very often have left wives and husbands behind to go out on an operational tour.
The Sandhurst-educated officer received the MBE and also led a Rapier missile unit in the Falklands which downed seven enemy aircraft, said The Sun.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
