Army Foundation College recruit abuse investigation 2014–18

The British army enlists new recruits from age 16.[9] Recruits aged between 16 and 17.5 years, known as Junior Soldiers (JS), undergo 12 months of initial training based at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, Yorkshire.[10] Towards the end of this period, recruits destined for the infantry travel to battle camp in Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway, which includes bayonet practice.[11] Infantry recruits then complete their training at the Infantry Training Centre in Catterick, Yorkshire.[12]

Allegations of abuse at the Army Foundation College have been common. Between 2014 and 2020, recruits made 60 formal complaints of assault or ill-treatment.[13]

Among the initial allegations reported in the Mail on Sunday on 12 August 2017 were that seventeen instructors from the Army Foundation College, having taken their trainees to battle camp in Kirkcudbright, had pushed cow dung into the recruits' mouths, held their heads under water, and kicked and punched them repeatedly during bayonet training. The recruits concerned were aged 17;[1] the instructors were all corporals or sergeants,[14] and included veterans of the Afghanistan War and Iraq War.[1]

The instructors faced 40 charges of battery, actual bodily harm and other ill-treatment.[1][2][3] All the accused denied any wrongdoing.[1][2]

By the time of the preliminary hearing of 21 September 2017, charges against seven of the accused had been dropped, leaving ten defendants to face 25 counts of ill-treatment and six of battery.[6] All defendants entered not-guilty pleas.[6]

The trial began on 12 February 2018 at Bulford Military Court Centre with Assistant Judge Advocate General Alan Large presiding.[7] After the opening prosecution arguments, the defence applied to have the proceedings stayed as an abuse of process,[7] meaning that the allegations were not investigated and brought to court in proper order.[15] The judge agreed and, describing the investigation as 'seriously flawed' and 'totally blinkered', criticised the military police for failing to interview key witnesses and taking too long to bring the case to trial.[7] On grounds that the defendants could no longer be fairly tried, the judge stayed the case and all defendants were released.[7]

The following chronology is summarised from the legal judgement.[7]

• June 2014: A cohort of infantry recruits aged 17 from the Army Foundation College travel to battle camp, where the incidents allegedly took place. The recruits concerned did not make a complaint at the time.
• September 2014: The recruits concerned, now based at the Infantry Training Centre in Catterick, are overheard by staff as they discuss the alleged incidents at Battle Camp. Their accounts are recorded informally and passed to the chain of command for action. The Royal Military Police are contacted.
• October 2014: The military police take formal witness statements from the recruits concerned, some of whom allege abusive treatment by instructors at battle camp during bayonet practice between 6 and 15 June. A statement is also taken from the Staff Sergeant responsible for delivering bayonet training at battle camp that June, who declares that he did not witness any ill treatment at the time. Other instructors were also present, including some of the accused, but statements were not taken from them. The reason for this, as explained later to the Court Martial by the officer in charge of the investigation, was that collecting these additional witness statements would have caused delay and 'the permanent staff [i.e. the instructors] were unlikely to corroborate any allegations of assaults or manhandling of the JS [i.e. the Junior Soldiers or trainees]'. In giving evidence to the court martial, the officer said of the Battle Camp instructors: 'It was unlikely they would say they had witnessed anything—they were likely to say they had not seen anything... If they said they had witnessed it and done nothing they would have incriminated themselves.'
• December 2014: By December 2014, approximately 40 junior soldiers have made allegations against approximately 30 members of staff.
• September 2016: Two years after the alleged incidents, the accused are arrested and questioned under caution.
• July 2017: The Service Prosecution Authority, which prosecutes on behalf of the armed forces, decides to send the case for trial at court martial.
• September 2017: At the preliminary hearing of the court martial on 21 September, all defendants plead not guilty pending a full hearing from 12 February 2018.
• February 2018: After the prosecution arguments, defence counsel argue that the failure to interview potential key witnesses, as well as the long delay between the alleged incidents and trial amount to an abuse of process and they apply for the proceedings to be stayed. The judge agrees and the five defendants are released on the grounds that a fair trial is no longer possible.

The collapse of the case was reported on the BBC[8] ITV,[16] STV,[17] and in the Guardian,[14] Mirror,[18] Northern Echo,[19] Telegraph,[20] Times,[21] Yorkshire Evening Post,[22] and Yorkshire Post.[23]

Lewis Cherry, a defence lawyer at the court martial interviewed for the BBC said he was 'appalled' by the failure of the military police to conduct its investigation in proper order, and said his clients would be 'relieved that the nightmare of these false allegations hanging over them for many years is over'.[20][8]

Human rights campaigners argued that the 'multiple failures' that led to the case collapsing showed that the military should not be entrusted to administer its own justice.[14][8] The campaign group ForcesWatch said that the case's collapse meant that 'serious allegations of abuse against some of the army's youngest recruits have gone untested'.[14]

The Ministry of Defence announced an internal review.[8]

• Army Foundation College
• Children in the military
• Recruit training