Seventeen Army instructors charged with brutal assaults on teen recruits

THE Army faces its largest ever abuse case after 17 instructors were charged with assaults on teenage recruits.

The veterans are accused of pushing troops’ heads underwater until they choked and forcing animal excrement into their mouths. Teenagers were repeatedly kicked, punched and tripped in training exercises, it is claimed.

In total the instructors, all veterans of Iraq or Afghanistan, face 40 charges of battery, ill-treatment and actual bodily harm. They could be jailed if found guilty.

They will appear at Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire, next month following a three-year £1million investigation into claims made by six recruits, who were 17.

The accused, from the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, deny the accusations. One of the complainants has left the Army but the other five went on to join regiments.

The alleged assaults happened when instructors accompanied 200 recruits on a battle camp in Kirkcudbright, southwest Scotland. A source told The Mail on

Sunday: ‘Some recruits allege they were punched, kicked and tripped.

‘Some claim when they fell into a stream, instructors used their boots to push the recruits’ heads under the water, making them gasp for air. Others claim instructors carrying handfuls of sheep and cow dung approached from behind and smeared the excrement over their faces and pressed it into their mouths.’

Sources stressed that the instructors were highly experienced combat veterans who were strictly vetted and received specialist training.

Colonel Richard Kemp, a former British Army commander in Afghanistan, said: ‘This is extraordinary, I have never heard of a case of this scale. If these charges are proven it will certainly be detrimental to the Army from a recruiting perspective. While there must be some aggression in recruit training, what is alleged goes far beyond what is acceptable.’

Troop numbers are at their lowest for centuries. Top brass have been criticised for signing up 16 and 17-year-olds, who some say are too young to cope with military life.

‘Heads pushed underwater’