The NCO, Sgt Matthew Crews, served with the Royal Artillery and had, The Telegraph reports, held up the 20cm blade to the neck of a subordinate who had insulted him. Sgt Crews has also been dismissed from the British Army.

Sgt Crews had returned from a night out in Tapa, where the bulk of the British Army personnel serving in Estonia are based, in a "heavily intoxicated" state and had chased down Gunner Oliver Palmer in a corridor at Tapa base after Gunner Palmer had referred to Sgt Crews using a derogatory term, to wit: "Mong," a court martial heard.

Capt. Hugh-Guy Lorriman, prosecuting, told Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire, England, that the incident had occurred on July 28, 2022, during operation Iron Surge.

The court martial heard that Crews, 36, a Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) specialist with 26 Royal Artillery Regiment, had threatened Palmer with a large knife he had fetched from his room in response to being called a "mong," and in order to demonstrate to Palmer who was "top dog."

Palmer said that the unsheathed knife had been held to his neck in such a way that any movement from him would have resulted in injury.

Judge Advocate General Alan Large noted the circumstances of the incident – during an operational situation and involving a threat to a subordinate with a bladed instrument. Despite the insult, Crews should have tried to de-escalate the "stupid altercation," Judge Large said.

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