Tri-Service

Sexual Assault Allegations And The Armed Forces

Nearly a hundred claims of sexual offences by members of the armed forces were investigated by service police last year.

The figures have been released by the Ministry of Defence in the first analysis of its kind.

Last year, there were 94 investigations involving 102 suspects.

These broke down as 20 allegations of rape, 49 allegations of other types of sexual assualt, and 13 others including exposure and voyeurism.

There were also 12 allegations of historical sex offences in Germany.

Just over 70 percent of suspects were in the Army, 17 percent were in the Royal Navy or Royal Marines, and 9 percent were in the RAF.

Of those allegations, 51 cases were referred for prosecution, 22 cases were not referred, and 21 cases were still under investigation at the end of last year.

We don’t know the outcomes of these cases, but in courts-martial last year, 49 defendants appeared on charges of sex offences and 21 were found guilty of at least one charge.

It is difficult to compare rates of sexual misconduct within the armed forces with sex offences in the general population.

Police in England and Wales investigated around 106,000 allegations of sex offences last year.

They say that’s about two for every thousand people, so 94 allegations for armed forces personnel out of a total of more than 150,000 people looks to be a significantly lower rate.

But the report comes with a big statistical health warning about comparing with other figures.

This is because "cases within England and Wales with a civilian victim are usually dealt with by the appropriate civilian agencies".

However, a Ministry of Defence spokesperson has said of the issue:

“Rape and sexual assault are abhorrent crimes which have no place in the Armed Forces. We do not tolerate offences of this kind and every reported incident is thoroughly investigated. There is no evidence to suggest that rates of sexual offending in the Armed Forces are higher than in the broader population.”