ONE of the largest inquiries into the alleged abuse of teenage Army recruits in Britain collapsed yesterday after the Royal Military Police bungled the investigation.
A judge branded the three-year investigation into alleged ill-treatment of the recruits during a battle camp at Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway, in the summer of 2014, “seriously flawed”.
Yesterday, he halted the first of three court martial cases amid missing evidence and claims witness statements were forced.
It was alleged 16 instructors ill-treated 28 recruits aged 16 or 17 while posted to the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. The recruits told the court martial in Bulford, Wiltshire, that during the Kirkcudbright camp, they were slapped or punched in the face, spat at, grabbed by the throat, had their faces submerged in mud or were ordered to eat animal manure. The recruits were 16 or 17 at the time.
But after eight days of the hearing, the prosecution offered no evidence in 24 of the 31 charges the first 10 defendants faced, meaning five were acquitted. The trial of the remaining five was halted yesterday by Assistant Judge Advocate General, Alan Large.
Pacifist organisation the Peace Pledge Union said the collapse of the inquiry was evidence that the armed forces should not be allowed to police themselves or try alleged abusers in their own courts. There are also fears the Royal Military Police (RMP) may have mishandled other cases, such as the inquiry into alleged abuses by British soldiers in Afghanistan.
The accused instructors included Acting Sergeant Steven Duncan, 32, of 1st Battalion Scots Guards. He was found not guilty of four charges of ill-treatment. Duncan was also acquitted of two charges of ill-treatment and two of battery at the college itself. Sergeant David Harley, of the Scots Dragoon Guards, was acquitted of one charge of ill-treatment and three of battery.
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