Just 54 out of 145 British military personnel accused of serious sexual crimes have been convicted, analysis by The Epoch Times can reveal.
Only a few are found guilty, however, with some even being allowed to stay in their regiments or units after being reprimanded.
Those accused range in rank from privates right up to the most senior servicemen in the defence forces, which include the army, navy, and Royal Air Force (RAF).
The shocking figures appear to back concerns from whistleblowers that rape cases should be moved out of the court martial system.
Last week, Parliament heard whistleblower evidence revealing ongoing sexual abuse within the armed services.
One servicewoman reported being raped on a base—but was told her attacker would remain with his elite unit, according to written submissions provided to the Commons Defence Committee.
Another was said to have been groped and forcibly kissed by a male colleague at a Christmas party before allegedly being told by her chain of command that she should “understand things get a little out of hand.”
Almost 10 Court Cases a Month
The most recent court martial records of completed hearings within the defence forces system show that from January 2023 to April 2023, 26 servicemen appeared before judges for crimes of a sexual nature.Of those 26 cases, just 9 were found guilty, analysis by The Epoch Times has found.
They include a corporal from the 3rd Battalion’s Parachute Regiment who was found guilty in March of two charges of sexual assault and using threatening, abusive, insulting, or provocative behaviour.
He was dismissed from the service and handed a three-year community service order, along with a requirement to attend an accredited treatment course for up to 40 sessions.
In March, a sergeant with the army’s elite medical unit—34 Field Hospital—was also found guilty of sexual assault, and was dismissed.
He was also sentenced to serve an 18-month community-service order with a requirement to complete up to 25 rehabilitation and “activity requirement” days.
In the RAF, a number of service members appeared before the court martial on sexual assault and rape charges.
A former sergeant, who had been connected to MoD’s purpose-built Abbey Wood complex in Bristol, was found guilty of rape and disgraceful conduct. He was sentenced to six years in prison.
However, not all of those convicted of sexual crimes were expelled from the armed forces.
Last month, an RAF sergeant appeared before a judge, who found him guilty of sexual assault.
His punishment was a reduction in rank to corporal, and 112 days detention.
From January 2022 to December 2022, just 45 out of 119 service members facing serious sexual crimes were convicted.
This means that 62 percent of those facing rape and sexual assault charges are walking free from court.
‘Damning Picture’
Proposals to move rape and sexual assault cases from the military court system were first made in 2021 following a parliamentary report into the experiences of servicewomen, but the MoD rejected the recommendation.Last week, uniformed and civilian clinicians and administrative support staff—who offer care to service personnel and their commands—gave evidence to politicians on the issue.
The staff giving evidence were anonymised, as were the personnel their claims related to, the committee said.
The case studies painted a damning picture of any progress made to address failures in protecting servicewomen, which were first laid bare by the 2021 report.
The MoD introduced new measures after the review, and said last year that its policies “will ensure that defence continues to tackle unacceptable sexual behaviour.”
But Atherton said that despite the “willingness to effect change … serious problems persist.”
One servicewoman who was raped was moved across the country against her will to separate her from her attacker, according to the evidence.
She was placed in transit accommodation where she would “often hear unknown men in the corridor outside her room, and would struggle to sleep, pushing furniture in front of the door and not leaving her room for days due to fears of the men outside her door,” the written submission said.
The move was presented as a way to facilitate her access to therapy for trauma from the rape, but due to issues in the system, it was more than a year before that happened, staff said.
Another case study described a “young servicewoman in training (who) awoke in her room on base to find a male member of training staff smelling her underwear; previously, she’d woken up to find him watching her sleeping.”
It added: “She describes on another occasion him holding her against a wall and telling her that her real reason to join the service was to ‘get the leg over as much as possible’.”
Few of the case studies involved women reporting incidents through an official complaints process, according to the evidence, but one who did ended up leaving the service with mental health issues while her alleged abusers “continue to serve and thrive,” the written submissions said.
Serious Failings
Among the reforms the MoD unveiled after the initial sub-committee report was the removal of the chain of command from the complaints process.Further measures included a review into strengthened powers to kick out those who are found to have committed sexual offences, and greater independence in the complaints process for bullying and harassment allegations.
However, the MoD did not accept a recommendation to move cases of rape and sexual assault out of military courts and into the civilian system.
According to the sub-committee’s 2021 findings, conviction rates in military courts were four-to-six-times lower than in civilian courts.
Atherton said: “The cases outlined in this evidence are heartrending and demonstrate serious failings within the military justice system and chain of command.
“Sexual assault and rape are heinous crimes. As this document shows, when these crimes take place in the armed forces, servicewomen often feel they have no option but to ‘put up and shut up.’
“They are often made to feel as though they must choose between justice and their career, while perpetrators of abuse seem to be protected.”
“It reinforces our view that the complaints system is not functioning as it should be, and that criminal cases of sexual assault and rape must be removed from the Service Justice System and handed over to civilian courts,” the MP said.
“The evidence also speaks to a wider culture of institutional misogyny: looking the other way and discouraging victims from coming forward, with senior personnel hiding behind the excuse of ‘boys will be boys.’
“If we are to tackle these issues at a fundamental cultural level, there needs to be a considered and strategic response led by respected figures within the military,” Atherton said.
Zero-Tolerance Approach
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace suggested that in 2021, there had been insufficient evidence to confirm that moving sexual assault cases out of the military courts would improve the system—on top of the other recommendations the ministry had adopted.Wallace said on Thursday that he had not had time to read the latest evidence in full, but insisted that “things are changing and getting better in the armed forces.”
“I put a huge amount of effort in adopting Sarah Atherton’s recommendations,” he told a press conference in Northwood.
“The only one we differed was because there was no real evidence that after all the measures we put in place, that that would somehow make the difference.”
Responding to whistleblower’s evidence given to the committee, an MoD spokesman said the experiences “are totally unacceptable.”
“No-one should be subjected to these incidents and any form of sexual assault, bullying, harassment, or discrimination will not be tolerated,” the spokesperson said.
“We want personnel to have the confidence to report offences. Building that confidence in service justice is the reason we launched the independent Serious Crime Unit—empowered to investigate crimes anywhere in the world—and have made sure that complaints of bullying, harassment, or discrimination are dealt with outside of the chain of command.”
The MoD said the measures sit alongside a “comprehensive improvement package,” which includes a new victim and witness care unit and policy reforms such as a “new zero tolerance approach to unacceptable sexual behaviour”.
The spokesperson said that meant ensuring that anyone convicted of a sexual offence will be dismissed from service.
