Submarine rape claim outrage
Ex-sailor bullied and harassed for reporting abuse - while ‘attacker’ was allowed to stay in Royal Navy
A FORMER sailor has revealed how she reported being raped by a fellow submariner – only to face a horrific bullying campaign while her ‘attacker’ was allowed to stay in the Royal Navy.
The woman is one of three new whistleblowers to come forward after the Daily Mail exposed allegations of abuse, misogyny and sexual harassment in the secretive Submarine Service.
The Navy has already begun an investigation and last night said it would reopen and reinvestigate previous complaints, including the latest allegations. All the whistleblowers said women in the service are too afraid to report abuse for fear of being ostracised. They called for an independent inquiry. The former sailor described how she was violently raped by a fellow submariner. The woman said she was physically and verbally abused by crewmates for reporting the attack.
This included having a cigarette put out on her, being pushed in front of a moving car and being threatened with rape. She was also assaulted in her bed by a higher ranking submariner who rubbed his genitals on her face as she slept.
All the whistleblowers said that – like former Lieutenant Sophie Brook, who spoke out about her ordeal in Saturday’s Mail – they had their underwear stolen while on patrol.
Miss Brook told how she was also physically and mentally abused.
The alleged rape victim cannot be named for legal reasons. The former junior naval rating said the attack left her covered in bruises.
Her alleged assailant had previously told her that she was one of the few women on their Vanguard class nuclear-powered submarine who he planned to have sex with.
‘He started sending me inappropriate messages on social media and started harassing me. I reported it to my divisional chain,’ she said.
‘They said they would separate us on the watches so I wouldn’t have to spend time with him.’ She was attacked by the man when their patrol came to an end and the crew stopped over in a foreign port.
She was in her early 20s at the time and the only female in a hostel with around 50 male crewmates. She returned to her room early during a night out after a day off, having felt sick after having too much to drink.
‘I thought I had locked my door but I didn’t shut it properly... he came into my room and I tried to lock myself in the bathroom,’ she said. ‘I remember him dragging me out and putting me on the bed. I was saying, “leave me alone” but he didn’t stop and my head hit something and I blacked out.’
She said she woke to the horrific realisation she had been raped and felt sick. ‘I was having panic attacks and I had marks all over my body and bruises. I felt disgusting and he texted one of my friends, another sailor, saying that he had “done something really bad” to me.’
The details of the location and timing of the alleged attack have been withheld to protect the victim’s identity. She said she had not initially wanted to report the incident, but heard that the man had been accused of similar assaults by other women.
As soon as she made a formal complaint to the Royal Navy Police and her alleged attacker was removed from their base, she was subjected to a horrific campaign of bullying by male crewmates at the Navy’s submarine base at Faslane.
‘They would call me a slut and tell me to kill myself,’ she said. ‘They would say I was a liar.’ The situation was made worse when her alleged attacker was allowed to return to base after her case was dropped.
‘He was just randomly there one day as if nothing had happened,’ she said. ‘When I questioned my bosses they said my letter from the naval police saying they couldn’t take it any further had got lost in the post.
‘It got worse then, he had all his friends and they would all bully me. I hid away,’ she said. Left feeling suicidal, she was forced to quit the Navy and abandon her dream career.
‘The hardest part was wondering when I might bump into him. I felt like he was protected,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t go on training courses because he was on them, so he got promoted and I was held back.
‘The Navy just let me down, the whole thing destroyed me.’
Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Commons defence committee, said the allegations raise questions over whether the Navy is able to police itself, adding: ‘There should be a trusted process for complaints.’
The head of the Navy, First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Ben Key, has said he is ‘deeply disturbed’ by the allegations. He said in a statement: ‘Sexual assault and harassment has no place in the Royal Navy and will not be tolerated. Anyone who is found culpable will be held accountable regardless of their rank or status.’
The Ministry of Defence said: ‘We continue to improve the ways to report an allegation, including ensuring that service complaints are no longer dealt with by the chain of command, but are instead processed by a separate team.’
■ A Navy rating has been arrested over the alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl in Cyprus. The alleged victim, said to be a British tourist, told local police that the 19-year-old sailor, who denies the charge, was ‘known to her’ and attacked her in an apartment after they met at a bar in Paphos, The Sun reported.
‘I felt like he was protected’
FOLLOWING the Mail’s revelations of appalling bullying and sexual harassment aboard Britain’s nuclear submarines, we report today on an alleged rape of a female rating by a fellow crew member.
Such an allegation would be horrific and deeply shocking in any walk of life. On the front line of our national defence it also constitutes a major security concern.
The First Sea Lord has rightly launched a full investigation. It must be thorough and uncompromising in its determination to clean out this toxic culture.
It is utterly shaming and smears the good name of the thousands of men and women in the Royal Navy who carry out their duties with exemplary skill and dedication.