Harrogate abuse court martials
Our soldiers deserve first-rate justice
Liberty, 20 March 2018
The UK has two separate justice systems – one for soldiers, and one for the rest of us. Yesterday, an important criminal case being heard in the court martial – kept out of the public eye by reporting restrictions until now – collapsed. And it exposes everything that’s wrong with this second class system.
This two-tier justice system is failing men and women who risk their lives fighting for our country. And when things do go wrong, there isn’t even an equivalent to the Independent Office of Police Complaints (formerly the Independent Police Complaints Commission) for soldiers and their families to turn to.
Daily Mail, 19 March 2018
- Royal Military Police investigated abuse at Army Foundation College, Harrogate
- Judge said probe ‘seriously flawed’ amid missing evidence and witness coercion
- Recruits aged 16 were allegedly spat on, punched and made to eat animal faeces
- RMP made ‘policy decision’ not to interview accused soldiers for fear they’d lie
Lewis Cherry, a Northern Ireland-based solicitor who specialises in military law, said: ‘I have never found anything that has been as badly done as this.… Read more