Downing Street has said it is “very concerning” that British authorities were not involved in the prosecution of an American fighter pilot who strangled a woman in Cambridge.
Responding to an investigation by the Guardian, a spokesperson for the prime minister said the case of Sarah Steele, an academic who was assaulted by the pilot in his apartment, was “deeply distressing”.
The pilot, Jacob Wulfson, 32, was convicted of strangling Steele but acquitted of other charges during a court martial at RAF Lakenheath, a US airbase in west Suffolk.
Cambridgeshire police have acknowledged that they ceded jurisdiction, allowing the US military to take control of the case.
Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said: “This is clearly a deeply distressing case, our thoughts are with the victim. She’s shown incredible bravery not only in her initial report to police but also in coming forward to speak to the media to help get justice for others.”
He said the government was “going to look really carefully at what’s happened here, and we must stress that we’re still establishing the facts. But of course this is very concerning that a case like this never reached the [Crown Prosecution Service], but was investigated by US airbase police and heard in front of an all-male panel of air force officers.”
Sarah Steele, a British academic, has waived her right to anonymity to speak about her experience. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian
UK law enforcement has primary jurisdiction over crimes that occur outside US bases while military personnel are off duty. Steele’s case has put a spotlight on how UK authorities cede authority to the US military.
The justice minister Jake Richards told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he would not comment on the specifics of the case but described it as “serious”.
He said: “Well, I’m only just getting the details of this case. I saw reporting in the Guardian, and indeed I know that you have covered this at 6.50am and I will be, as you’ve encouraged your listeners to, listening back after I have finished this interview.
“It’s a really serious case, really. It’s very good that it’s being raised by yourselves and others. I’m going to take it away back to the Ministry of Justice and make sure that we are looking into the details of this later.”
He added: “There are issues around military courts, whether that is in America or indeed our own, and how that interplays with our criminal courts and our civil courts. That’s always an area that we look at. I will take this specific case, and you’ll appreciate that I don’t want to say anything that might undermine what needs to be a really thorough and objective look at this case over the coming days and weeks.”
Wulfson’s court martial, details of which were revealed by the Guardian, was heard in April at Lakenheath, his base and the largest US military base in the UK.
The US captain was convicted of strangling an intimate partner but found not guilty of sexual assault. He received a sentence of six months in a corrections facility, handed to him by an all-male panel of air force officers who served as the equivalent of a jury. He was also dismissed from the air force.
