UK Justice Secretary Raises US Pilot's Case with Washington

David Lammy, the deputy prime minister, is raising with the US government the “extremely concerning” case of an American fighter pilot who avoided a trial under English law for strangling a woman at his home in Cambridge.

Lammy, who is also the justice secretary, told parliament that he wanted the US government to give a full account of the case of Sarah Steele, an academic who was assaulted by the pilot.

He added that officials across the British government were examining the issue as it concerned a number of government departments. His comments follow a pledge by Downing Street to look “really carefully” at what happened to her, the prime minister’s spokesperson calling it “deeply distressing”.

Lammy was speaking after an investigation by the Guardian which revealed how the pilot, Capt Jacob Wulfson, was tried at a court martial on a US airbase, despite his crime taking place while he was off duty.

Even though the crime had occurred within its territory, Cambridgeshire police had handed over responsibility for investigating Wulfson to the US military which then took control of the prosecution.

Steele’s case has put the spotlight on an obscure agreement which gives UK police primary responsibility for investigating crimes that occur outside US bases while military personnel are off duty.

However, it appears that the US seeks to maximise its jurisdiction and British forces often permit the US military to investigate and prosecute such offences.

On Tuesday, Jess Brown-Fuller, the Liberal Democrat’s justice spokesperson, argued in parliament that “victims of crimes on English soil should see justice served in our justice system”.

Lammy responded: “Halving violence against women and girls is a decade-long mission for this government.

“That case is extremely concerning, and our thoughts, of course, are with the victim, Sarah. Given the cross-agency nature of this case, my officials are working across government and we’re raising it with the US government to establish the full facts.”

At his court martial in April, Wulfson was convicted of strangling an intimate partner but acquitted of sexual assault.

An all-male panel of US air force officers who served as the equivalent of a jury gave him a sentence of six months in a corrections facility at his base, RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. He was also dismissed from the air force.

Steele has spoken out about the “distressing and degrading” experience she had with the US military justice system after she was assaulted by Wulfson.

She said that one of the reasons for coming forward was that many people in the UK were unaware there were “little pockets of American jurisdiction” on British soil, where victims of crimes committed by US military personnel can find themselves caught in a foreign and outdated justice system.

There are more than 12,000 US military personnel stationed at at least 15 bases and facilities in the UK.

Nick Timothy, the Conservative MP for West Suffolk, where RAF Lakenheath is based, wrote to Lammy last week to demand answers, saying: “This case should have been fully investigated by the English police and prosecuted in our courts.”