Army commander, 51, caught cheating on his wife during lockdown is cleared of breaking social distancing rules
- Major General Rupert Jones, 51, accused of breaking rules to carry out an affair
- Investigation into commitment to army’s standards found ‘no case to answer’
- It emerged last month he left his wife Lucinda, 47, and moved out of their home
An Army commander caught cheating during lockdown has been cleared of breaking social distancing rules, it was reported last night.
Major General Rupert Jones, 51, previously Britain’s highest-ranking soldier in Iraq, was accused of breaking the rules to carry out his affair with his married lover.
An investigation into Maj Gen Jones’s commitment to the army’s standards found ‘no case to answer’, The Sun reported.
It emerged last month that he had left his wife Lucinda, 47, and moved out of their £1.5million home in the West Country. The couple have three children, aged between 16 and 20.
Major General Rupert Jones, 51, previously Britain’s highest-ranking soldier in Iraq, will face the Army Board over two misconduct charges
His lover is understood to work outside the military and had left her husband to pursue the relationship.
The father of three, whose father Herbert ‘H’ Jones was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his heroism in the Falklands conflict, is also facing a charge of bullying.
An Army spokesman said on Monday: ‘We are investigating the facts of this matter, and while we do so it would not be right to comment further.’
Maj Gen Jones has an extraordinary military pedigree.
Family: With wife Lucinda and his mother Sara after birth of son Henry
Major General Rupert Jones is pictured (left) as a boy with his father Colonel ‘H’ Jones, mother Sara and older brother David
Bravery: VC winner Colonel H Jones
He was 13 when his father was killed storming an Argentine machine gun nest at Goose Green, and followed him into the Devonshire & Dorset Regiment.
He became one of the Army’s youngest commanding officers when he took charge of the 4th Battalion, The Rifles, at the age of 38.
He has served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland and was awarded an MBE for his role in drawing up Ministry of Defence plans to cope with potential national crises.
Maj Gen Jones was Britain’s senior general in Iraq in 2016 and 2017 as part of the US-led campaign against Islamic State.