‘Nightmare over’ for falsely accused soldiers

Judge criticises military police as investigation into alleged ill-treatment of Army recruits collapses

EXPERIENCED soldiers were investigated for three years over false accusations they had struck and ill-treated recruits after a “seriously flawed” military police inquiry, a court has heard.

A judge accused military police of not investigating “fairly and objectively” after officers decided not to gather evidence that could undermine their case against 16 Army instructors.

Lewis Cherry, a lawyer for the defendants, last night alleged that teenage recruits had been persuaded to complain against their instructors with suggestions they could be in line for compensation.

Witnesses who contradicted the accusations were not questioned and investigators failed to gather photos that undermined the claims, a judge ruled.

The defendants were not asked for statements until years after the alleged abuse, when evidence that could have supported them was already lost.

Mr Cherry called for a full investigation into the Royal Military Police’s failings and the senior officers who had overseen them.

He said the trials had been stopped “because of grave irregularities uncovered in the police investigation”.

“I represented soldiers in each of the trials, and they and their families are relieved that the nightmare of these false allegations hanging over them for many years is over.

“The current disclosure problems reported in the civilian courts are also occurring in the military courts. But these three cases expose a greater worry – what other cases have been similarly affected?”

Military police and the Service Prosecution Authority launched one of the largest inquiries into the alleged abuse of young recruits after allegations that 16- and 17-year-old junior soldiers at the Army’s college in Harrogate had been ill-treated by instructors during a battle camp at Kirkcudbright in 2014.

It was alleged the instructors slapped or punched the trainees in the face, spat at them, grabbed them by the throat, held their faces under water, or ordered them to eat animal manure.

The junior soldiers at first made no complaints, but had been overheard talking about their experiences months later while undergoing further training at Catterick.

An officer ordered the soldiers to write accounts of what had happened and he passed them up the chain command.

But three linked trials at Bulford military court centre collapsed after Alan Large, the assistant judge advocate general, criticised flaws in the case. In the first trial, five instructors were acquitted and another five were told they could not get a fair trial. Prosecutors then decided to offer no evidence against six other defendants and they were acquitted.

Judge Large condemned the Royal Military Police for a “seriously flawed” and “totally blinkered approach” to the investigation. He said Capt Teresa Spanton, the lead military police investigator, had taken the “frankly startling” of decision not to question witnesses – including a major, several captains and a warrant officer – because she believed they would lie in their witness statements.

He said: “The decision not to interview, at any stage during a very long inquiry, such highly relevant eyewitnesses is a very serious breach of the duty of police officers to investigate a case fairly and objectively.”

An Army spokesman said the RMP and Service Prosecution Authority would now be holding a review “to ensure that lessons are learnt”.

He said: “Despite the outcome, we will consider carefully whether any internal disciplinary action is necessary.”