Calls grow for inquiry after reports of abuse and rape at Army Training College at Harrogate

Calls are growing for an independent inquiry after reports of rape and abuse against four young women at the Army Foundation College near Harrogate.

The establishment is the sole military basic training college for 16- and 17-year-old recruits entering the British Army.

The women, who attended the college over the past five years, say the incidents happened when they were aged 17.

One told the BBC she had been raped by fellow soldiers in an attack which lasted for hours.

It took place after she was casually invited into a soldier’s room. “They started taking my clothes off and then this led to them doing stuff I didn’t consent to,” she told the BBC.

“There were a lot of them. They touched me in places, made inappropriate comments, calling me a thing rather than a girl.

“And then I was raped… by multiple junior soldiers, same age as me.

“It went on for hours. I felt like a piece of meat.”

Another woman said she was sexually assaulted by a fellow soldier who trapped her in a room before kissing and touching her without her consent.

A third was allegedly sexually assaulted and subjected to sexual harassment during her training and would sleep across the door to her room to stop male soldiers entering.

Instructors were also accused of inappropriate behaviour including marking girls’ looks out of 10 and walking into the girls’ dorms without knocking while cadets were undressed, according to the BBC.

The revelations came on the same day as the annual passing out parade took place which sees around 900 junior soldiers celebrate the end of basic training in front of family members.

Harrogate MP Tom Gordon said the college had been part of Harrogate for decades and many local people had family, friends or colleagues connected to it.

He has written to Defence Wes Streeting calling for an independent inquiry into culture and safeguarding practices. Mr Gordon said: “Parents across the country send 16- and 17-year-olds to Harrogate trusting that they will be properly looked after. Where that duty of care has not been met, it needs to be established openly and put right.”

The Army has now called for victims and witnesses of criminal behaviour at the college to come forward.

“Unacceptable and criminal behaviour has absolutely no place in our Armed Forces and these reports are extremely distressing and serious,” a spokesperson for the Army said.

The spokesperson for the Army said the most recent Ofsted report and visit by the Children’s Commissioner and safeguarding authorities in January 2026 “recognised the culture of care (at AFC) and the confidence junior soldiers have in raising concerns”.

During a Commons defence select committee hearing earlier this year, Labour MP Emma Lewell said that between 2021 and 2024 there had been 122 investigations into sexual offences against under 18-year-olds at AFC – 80 of which involved sexual assault.

Ms Lewell also said North Yorkshire Council had received 89 safeguarding notifications in the last five years concerning staff at the college. The council has been approached for comment.