Harrogate MP backs calls for broader investigation after rape and abuse claims at Army college

Allegations over rape and abuse claims at army colleges including in Yorkshire should not be treated as isolated incidents, MPs warn, amid calls to widen investigations.

Armed Forces Commissioner Polly Miller-Perkins is to carry out an independent probe with visits to 10 military training sites, it has been confirmed. It comes after claims from four women, published by the BBC in August, over assaults and harassment at Harrogate’s Army Foundation College (AFC).

Now the district’s MP Tom Gordon, representing Harrogate and Knaresborough, has written to the Defence Secretary to outline his concerns. He is among six Lib Dem MPs to press Wes Streeting over the scope and breadth of investigations, warning there is a wider and “persistent culture” of unchallenged abuse.

“The young people who join our Armed Forces deserve to know they will be safe and treated with dignity,” he said. “But it is clear that in many army colleges there is a culture which leaves female cadets, in particular, afraid and vulnerable.”

The allegations came from four women who say they had been sexually assaulted or harassed at the AFC, which they attended when they were 17. One said she had been raped by several junior soldiers.

Mr Gorden, highlighting previous parliamentary inquiries as well as the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) own research, said they had all pinpointed to a “culture” of sexual violence and misogyny.

There was a danger, he warned now, that placing the new investigation into the hands of a senior military figure would make it more difficult for victims to speak out.

The MPs have called for the Defence Secretary to appoint independent, civilian specialists to support the Commissioner’s work. They have also for any serious allegations to be referred to police and prosecutors rather than heard internally.

Of the “horror” in reports that have emerged over the years, they said: “It has become increasingly clear that these are not isolated incidents at a single establishment.”

The Commissioner is to visit sites including the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and Dartmouth’s Britannia Royal Naval College. In Yorkshire, visits are planned to Harrogate’s AFC, where the youngest recruits are trained, and to the Infantry Training Centre at Catterick. She has issued a call for evidence, inviting families, staff and recruits to share their experience over the past five years.

Now MPs ask for it to go further, with findings to be published in full, adding: “We believe this would be an important step towards ending this culture of silence and deliver true accountability for all the women who have come forward.”

Signatories include MPs James MacCleary, Caroline Voaden, Al Pinkerton, Danny Chambers, and Helen Maguire.

A spokesperson for the MOD said it welcomed scrutiny with the creation of the Commissioner role aimed at providing just this: “We are committed to ensuring everyone beginning their military career receives the highest standards of training, welfare and support in a safe and professional environment.

And on AFC Harrogate, an Army spokesperson said: “Unacceptable and criminal behaviour has absolutely no place in our Armed Forces and we encourage anyone who has experienced or witnessed unacceptable or criminal behaviour at the Army Foundation College to come forward. We know this can be difficult and that’s why changes have been made in recent years to support victims, including the right to report crimes directly to civilian emergency services.”