Army Foundation College recruit abuse investigation 2014–2018

[3][5] The hearing was expected to last four weeks[6] but soon collapsed after the judge ruled that a fair trial would be impossible due to serious mishandling of the investigation by the Royal Military Police (RMP).

[10] Recruits aged between 16 and 17.5 years, known as Junior Soldiers (JS), undergo six or 12 months of initial training based at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, Yorkshire.

[11] Towards the end of this period, recruits destined for the infantry travel to battle camp in Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway for one week, which includes a day of bayonet practice.

[14] Among the initial allegations reported in the Mail on Sunday on 12 August 2017 were that seventeen instructors from the Army Foundation College, having taken their trainees to battle camp in Kirkcudbright, had pushed cow dung into the recruits' mouths, held their heads under water, and kicked and punched them repeatedly during bayonet training.

[1] One was Joe Turton, who told the Child Rights International Network that abuse had been routine throughout his year at AFC, and then at battle camp:The corporals come into the hangar where we sleep and they're wild-eyed, screaming, shoving people out.

[1][2] By the time of the preliminary hearing of 21 September 2017, charges against seven of the accused had been dropped, leaving ten defendants to face 25 counts of ill-treatment and six of battery.

[7] After the opening prosecution arguments, the defence applied to have the proceedings stayed as an abuse of process,[7] meaning that the allegations were not investigated and brought to court in proper order.

[17] The judge agreed and, describing the investigation as 'seriously flawed' and 'totally blinkered', criticised the military police for failing to interview key witnesses and taking too long to bring the case to trial.

[25] Lewis Cherry, a defence lawyer at the court martial interviewed for the BBC said he was 'appalled' by the failure of the military police to conduct its investigation in proper order, and said his clients would be 'relieved that the nightmare of these false allegations hanging over them for many years is over'.