A black female soldier who was the British Army poster girl for diversity has received an apology and a payout after being subjected to vile racist and sexist abuse. Kerry-Ann Knight, 33, was a representative of the Army's Black and Minority Ethnic Network and featured on posters for a £1.5m military recruitment campaign.

But Knight has since received a substantial settlement from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) after she went to an employment tribunal last month. Knight secretly recorded conversations with colleagues who joked about lynching her. In one shocking recording, one of her male army colleagues can be heard saying: “Just **** tar and feather her, it's what they used to do in the old days.” Another praised Hitler and repeatedly shouted “watermelon” when she walked into a room.

Ms Knight alleged in her successful claim that she had to serve alongside soldiers who proudly supported the Ku Klux Klan, Britain First and the English Defence League. Male soldiers reportedly shouted racially offensive insults followed by “I'd still shag you though.” But despite raising complaints about the abuse to her superiors, Ms Knight says no action was ever taken. She claims her experiences left her feeling that the Army was “institutionally racist.” Ms Knight and the MoD settled before a final judgement was made. The Army also agreed to make a public apology in the face of the amount of evidence Knight accumulated. The MoD said it “accepts that Ms Knight had to work in an unacceptable organisational environment where she experienced racist and sexist harassment.”

Speaking to the BBC, she said: “I'd never encourage any woman, especially of colour, to join, because it's not going to benefit your life in the long run.” The racist and sexist abuse is said to have begun around 2012. Ms Knight, from Nottingham, served in the Army for more than a decade.  During one of her first postings to Germany, she was told to avoid a corridor as soldiers were openly displaying swastikas and other racist symbols. A senior female solder reportedly told Ms Knight to not wear her hair in braids to go swimming during training, telling her, “this isn't the ghetto.”

She also claims a senior colleague physically assaulted her in 2013, which she believes was motivated by racism. In 2021, Ms Knight began working as the only black female instructor at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate. This is where the Army trains 16 and 17-year-old junior soldiers. But she claims several fellow white male instructors targeted her with racial and sexual harassment. Knight describes outrageous and racist incidents where her colleagues would shout “watermelon” at her when she approached the office. She claims people would also play the Quentin Tarantino film “Django Unchained”, a film about slavery, loudly in the office.

When she offered to make a round of hot drinks, one colleague replied he wanted his coffee “black and bitter – like my women,” Images of Hitler and a photo of a man's genitals were openly posted on a Whatsapp group for the instructors, of which she was a member. Kerry-Ann Knight said: “I have been absolutely devastated by my treatment by the British Army. I was so determined to make it work and help make the British Army a better place for women and black people, and so for everyone. But my experience eventually showed me that no matter what I did, I would never be accepted.”

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Emma Norton, solicitor for Kerry-Ann Knight, said: “The way the Army conducted itself throughout its internal complaints process and throughout this litigation is nothing short of shameful. For the Army, it was not the racists that needed to be dealt with it, it was Kerry-Ann, because she'd had the audacity to complain about racism and misogyny.”

“It is all dreadfully familiar and shows that, in the British Army, it's worse to accuse someone of racism than it is to be racist.”

Major General SL Humphris MBE, on behalf of the British Army, said in an apology sent to Kerry-Ann Knight: “As Director Personnel(Army) and a member of the Army Board, I sincerely apologise on behalf of the Ministry of Defence. The Army accepts that you had to work in an unacceptable organisational environment where you experienced racist and sexist harassment. There was a failure within the Army in not responding properly to that environment or your complaints about it.”

“The Army wishes to apologise for the treatment you received. Your loss is a matter of regret.”