Former judge ‘could not convict despite believing rape accusers’

BRITAIN’S former most senior court martial judge has said he believed most female rape complainants – but under the law that is “not enough” to convict.

Judge Blackett, Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces until last year, said: “In my experience as a judge in numerous rape trials in both civilian courts and the court martial, the difference in the prosecution and defence versions is small and acquittals are based on the fact that the jury/board cannot be sure beyond reasonable doubt of the victim’s story.

“In most of those cases I have thought that the victim was probably telling the truth – but under the law that is not enough.” Judge Blackett also suggested that rape cases where both parties have consumed too much alcohol, where understanding of consent is blurred, should be tried as sexual assault.

This newspaper revealed that sexual assault victims of Armed Forces personnel are refusing to report their attackers because defendants are twice as likely to be cleared in military than criminal courts. Just 29 per cent of the 59 military personnel tried at court martial for sexual offences in 2019 were convicted, compared with 65 per cent of the 7,742 defendants who appeared before the criminal justice system for the same offences in the same year.

Courts martial differ from civilian courts in that juries are made up of boards of service personnel of superior rank to the defendants. Successful prosecutions are consistently lower than criminal courts and are on the decline.

Centre for Military Justice director Emma Norton has been calling for sexual assualt and rape cases in the Armed Forces to be handled by civilian police, the CPS and the Crown Court.

However, Mr Blackett says this would not solve the issue and says figures show that both the civilian and military “systems are struggling with the law”.

The Ministry of Justice said: “Rape victims need to know cases will be taken seriously and pursued rigorously through the courts, so offenders are brought to justice. We are reviewing our response to this horrific crime, while investing millions to deliver speedier justice and fund support services.”