\n<\/p>\n
M<\/span>inutes after fleeing the home of an American airman, Rebecca called 999 in tears to report that he had raped her. She recalls vomiting at a police station in Suffolk as she described being repeatedly and violently attacked.<\/p>\n Officers took her to a sexual assault referral centre for an intimate examination. There, a nurse measured and photographed her injuries, including bruises and bite marks on her neck.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t feel like I was a human,\u201d said Rebecca, whose name has been changed to protect her identity. \u201cI know that sounds really extreme but I genuinely looked in the mirror and I didn\u2019t recognise myself.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the following days, Rebecca, then a 20-year-old British midwifery student, was interviewed by local police detectives. She handed over her phone and laptop as evidence. She was given a crime reference number and appointed an independent sexual violence adviser (ISVA) to help with the legal process she assumed would take place under the normal rules for prosecutions in England and Wales.<\/p>\n Yet normal rules do not always apply to men like Tyrion Davis, who was then a 22-year-old senior airman in the US air force based at RAF Lakenheath, an American military base. Rebecca alleged that he raped her in June 2020, while he was off-duty and at his home in Brandon, a small market town in rural Suffolk.<\/p>\n Twenty days after Suffolk police commenced their investigation, the force decided to cede control of the case to the US air force. That decision meant Davis would avoid the British justice system, and a possible trial before a jury in a British crown court. Instead, he was prosecuted in a military trial, or court martial, at RAF Lakenheath.<\/p>\n <\/span>Davis at work at RAF Lakenheath in July 2021.<\/span> Photograph: Operation 2021\/Alamy<\/p>\n By the time of the trial, in June 2022, the case against Davis had expanded to include similar sexual assault allegations from a second woman: his estranged wife, Emily. Davis insisted his sexual encounters with Rebecca and Emily, both British women, had been consensual.<\/p>\n However, he was convicted of sexually assaulting Emily, whose name has also been changed to protect her identity, \u201cby penetrating her vulva with his penis, without her consent\u201d.<\/p>\n It is unclear why the offence, which involved non-consensual penetrative sex, was prosecuted by the military as sexual assault. In the criminal justice system for England and Wales, such an offence is likely to have been charged as rape.<\/p>\n Davis was acquitted of 10 further counts of sexual assault and abusive sexual contact, and two counts of assault, against Rebecca and Emily.<\/p>\n In interviews with the Guardian, Rebecca and Emily spoke of their horrific allegations against the US airman, and their traumatic experience of giving evidence against him at the court martial.<\/p>\n Rebecca, who now works for the NHS, said she had discovered about a week before the court martial that the jury panel would be composed entirely of Davis\u2019s military peers, rather than members of the public. \u201cIt\u2019s like, if I did something wrong outside of work, having all of my nursing colleagues being on the jury,\u201d she said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n Rebecca met Davis when she was 18, four months after he had arrived at RAF Lakenheath in June 2017. He was an aircraft metals craftsman in the 48th equipment maintenance squadron. In February 2018, Rebecca introduced Davis, who is originally from California, to her friend Emily. Ten months later, Davis, then 20, and Emily, then 18, got married.<\/p>\n The marriage was short-lived and ended when Emily left him in July 2019. However, Rebecca had considered Davis a good friend. He had met her family, stayed at their home and joined them for roast dinners.<\/p>\n In June 2020, at the end of the first Covid lockdown, Rebecca asked Davis if she could stay in one of the spare rooms at his home in Brandon, which is close to the airbase. Her flatmates had moved out of her university accommodation and the wifi had stopped working properly.<\/p>\n Rebecca alleged that Davis smoked marijuana before attacking her within hours of her arrival on 8 June 2020. \u201cI thought I was going to die there,\u201d Rebecca recalled. She said Davis had pulled her on to his bed before assaulting her. \u201cHe bit me. I couldn\u2019t see anything because it was just pitch-black and I didn\u2019t know the layout of the room. I just kind of froze. Everything happened. It was rape, sexual assault and the only time he stopped is when I vomited everywhere from stress.\u201d<\/p>\n Rebecca alleged Davis then pushed her into the shower and attempted to assault her before she escaped to a downstairs bedroom, where she barricaded the door shut with her suitcases.<\/p>\n The full horror of the alleged attack, she said, became clear when she saw bruises and bite marks on her neck in the morning and realised \u201cthat wasn\u2019t a bad dream\u201d.<\/p>\n double quotation markI begged him to let me go. I was absolutely hysterical<\/p>\n Rebecca tried the front door but found it was locked. She messaged a friend to say she needed somewhere safe to stay, while considering jumping out of a window to escape. Then, she alleged, Davis burst into the bedroom and raped her again.<\/p>\n \u201cI begged him to let me go: \u2018Unlock the door, please. Just let me go.\u2019 And eventually he did. I was absolutely hysterical,\u201d she said. \u201cHe left the room and I was like: \u2018What do I grab?\u2019 I launched all my stuff in the car and started driving.\u201d<\/p>\n In the car, Rebecca said, she phoned a friend who encouraged her to call 999. A court martial document described Rebecca as \u201caudibly distraught and overcome with emotion\u201d in the call. The body camera footage of the Suffolk police officer who met her a short time later showed that she was \u201cvisibly shaken, agitated, at some points crying, and appear[ed] to be under extreme stress\u201d, the document said.<\/p>\n At a local police station, an officer told Rebecca they had run out of the rape kits used to preserve evidence, owing to a spate of reported assaults. She was taken to the Harbour Centre, a sexual assault referral centre in Norwich, where intimate photographs and swabs were taken and her injuries documented.<\/p>\n Rebecca surrendered her clothing as evidence and left wearing clothes donated by a charity. She returned to the centre a few days later for a formal interview, this time by an officer from Norfolk police, although Suffolk police remained the investigating force. Days later, however, that changed.<\/p>\n On 15 June 2020, six days after Rebecca\u2019s initial report, she said she received an unexpected phone call from Suffolk police. An officer informed her that the Americans had made a request for the US military to take jurisdiction over the case, and that the transfer would be a quicker route to justice.<\/p>\n <\/span>Tyrion Davis.<\/span> Photograph: The Texas public sex offender website<\/p>\n Rebecca said a similar argument was made by her ISVA, a specialist who provides advice and support to victims in England and Wales.<\/p>\n \u201cShe told me the CPS might not take the case,\u201d Rebecca said of the ISVA. \u201cIf they do take it, it\u2019s a minimum of two years until the court case. She then said: \u2018The Americans, they want to take it on. They\u2019ve said it\u2019ll be six months [for a court martial]. Which one would you prefer?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In the traumatic days after the alleged attack, the promise of a faster trial was compelling. Rebecca had already put her midwifery degree on hold while trying to navigate a complex legal system.<\/p>\n She was told there was a two-year waiting list for mental health services on the NHS, but that the Americans could offer her support more quickly. Rebecca also recalls her ISVA giving her statistics about how few rape cases are prosecuted by the CPS \u2013 and how long they take to get to court.<\/p>\n \u201cIn my head, I was thinking: \u2018OK, if I go the American route, it\u2019s quicker, I can continue midwifery and also they\u2019re going to give me support,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Rebecca said she was also warned by her ISVA that Davis could try to leave the UK before facing trial in an English court. Nine months earlier, Anne Sacoolas, an American intelligence official, had fled the UK after killing a 19-year-old motorcyclist, Harry Dunn, in a road collision outside the US military base RAF Croughton.<\/p>\n Rebecca agreed to the transfer and the case was formally handed over to the Americans on 29 June 2020. It was only later, she said, that she realised the full implications of that decision.<\/p>\n double quotation markMy legal representation told me: \u2018Whatever you do, don\u2019t wear red lipstick. Don\u2019t wear anything red\u2019<\/p>\n The promised six-month timetable for a court martial stretched to two years, forcing Rebecca to drop out of her midwifery degree.<\/p>\n Unlike the hundreds of rape and sexual offence victims who give evidence in UK courts each year, Rebecca could not testify from behind a screen. She would have to do so in a small courtroom at the military base. \u201cSo all the questioning would be in front of him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Rebecca did not meet her US air force-appointed lawyer until weeks before the trial, when she was invited to the airbase to see the layout of the courtroom. Days before she was due to testify, Rebecca received advice about how she should approach the court martial.<\/p>\n \u201cMy legal representation contacted me and said: \u2018What are you wearing?\u2019\u201d she recalled. \u201cAnd I was like: \u2018I don\u2019t know, probably just a suit or something.\u2019 \u2018Whatever you do, don\u2019t wear red lipstick,\u2019 is what I was told. \u2018Don\u2019t wear anything red. Wear black, white; if anything, wear white because it\u2019s more angelic.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Rebecca added: \u201cThat\u2019s always stuck with me and my family. Why does it matter what you\u2019re wearing? But it obviously did.\u201d<\/p>\n When it came to her court martial evidence, Rebecca, who is shortsighted, took off her glasses so she didn\u2019t have to see Davis, who was metres away.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was probably one of the worst days of my life,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause he was right there and I thought: if I can\u2019t see, I\u2019m safer. I know it sounds stupid, but I just took off my glasses and answered questions.\u201d<\/p>\n Much of the trial was a blur for Rebecca, who, despite the assurances she had received, had been unable to get any mental health support. \u201cThe only way I was getting through every day was trying to ignore exactly what had happened because it had such a massive mental impact on me. And in the court case, I feel like I froze because, in my head, he didn\u2019t exist any more for my own protection, and him being there, I just instantly went into \u2018fight, flight, freeze\u2019 and I just froze.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cIn the courtroom, my body just kind of shut down. I think I answered yes, no, and just tried my hardest. But because he was there, I was in shock.\u201d<\/p>\n Emily\u2019s experience on the witness stand was not dissimilar. Unlike Rebecca, who initially dealt with Suffolk police after they opened an investigation following her 999 call, Emily\u2019s allegations against her estranged husband were handled entirely by the US military.<\/p>\n Emily reported her allegations to the US air force\u2019s office of special investigations in September 2020, after Rebecca had got in touch to explain that investigators were looking into her allegation of rape against Davis.<\/p>\n Emily accused Davis of sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions in 2018 and 2019, including by allegedly forcing her into sexual acts in the presence of others. She also alleged she had once become afraid for her life after Davis, during consensual sex, strangled her until she began to lose consciousness and her vision became blurry. However, it was another allegation that proved pivotal during the court martial.<\/p>\n One night in July 2019, while they were in bed together, Davis wanted to have sex but Emily told him she did not. She pushed his hand away, told him \u201cno\u201d several times and turned her body away from him. \u201cI had said no because I didn\u2019t want to,\u201d she recalled. \u201cHe cuddled up behind me, and I was like: \u2018Go away.\u2019 He kept trying, I kept saying no. In the end he just rolled me on to my back and completely ignored me. It was awful. I was crying. He just didn\u2019t give a fuck.\u201d<\/p>\n double quotation markI never said you didn\u2019t say stop. I said you didn\u2019t say it like you meant itTyrion Davis<\/p>\n Davis penetrated her vagina in what she said was a \u201crough\u201d assault that left her bleeding, struggling to walk and in pain for days. Within a week, she had ended their relationship and moved back in with her parents.<\/p>\n Facebook messages disclosed during the trial showed that Emily told Davis on 10 August 2019 that she couldn\u2019t get over what had happened, adding: \u201cI said \u2018stop\u2019 more than once.\u201d<\/p>\n Davis replied: \u201cI never said you didn\u2019t say stop. I said you didn\u2019t say it like you meant it \u2026 You say stop alot [sic]. And I\u2019m not blaming you for what I did.\u201d In a lengthy message, Emily described the impact of the assault, saying: \u201cI am still getting nightmares from it \u2026 Me saying no, actually meant no.\u201d<\/p>\n Publicly available documents about the court martial provide only a partial snapshot of the case, and do not include a full account of the US airman\u2019s defence, including in relation to the accounts over which he was acquitted.<\/p>\n One document shows his lawyers argued that Davis \u201cmaintained his relationships with [Emily] and [Rebecca] consisted of consensual encounters\u201d. They accused Emily of telling \u201crepeated lies\u201d, and argued that her testimony showed \u201ca pattern of a young married couple exploring their sexual boundaries\u201d.<\/p>\n While Emily was often initially \u201cuninterested\u201d or \u201caverse\u201d to sexual activities, the lawyers argued, she \u201ceventually agreed to participate\u201d.<\/p>\n Court martials on US military bases can be hard for the public to access, requiring special permission to get into fortified bases. There are no publicly available transcripts of proceedings, and therefore no records of the cross-examinations Emily and Rebecca were subjected to.<\/p>\n Emily recalls giving evidence over two days, when she was five months pregnant, as very intense and invasive. \u201cI was so stressed and emotionally distraught,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Court documents show Davis\u2019s lawyers argued Emily had fabricated the allegations after returning from a holiday to Ibiza in July 2019, when she slept with one of Davis\u2019s US air force colleagues. His lawyers claimed Emily wanted \u201cto change the narrative from unfaithful wife to victim of sex assault\u201d because it seemed like a \u201cmore palatable\u201d reason to leave her husband.<\/p>\n Emily admitted during cross-examination that she had initially lied about the affair, but said it did not change the fact that Davis had assaulted her. \u201cThe only reason that it was even brought up [was] because they were trying to call into question my character,\u201d she said. \u201cBut even if I had been having an affair the whole time, it wouldn\u2019t have justified what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n Court papers reveal that Emily was also questioned more than 15 times about the fact that she had reported the alleged assaults only after Rebecca got in touch with her. Emily told the Guardian she had feared she would not be believed.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took me a while to realise that what he was doing actually wasn\u2019t right. And then at that point, I felt like it had been too long,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was my word against his and no one would believe me.\u201d<\/p>\n Emily\u2019s fear \u2013 that her attacker\u2019s word would be believed over hers \u2013 will be familiar to many victims of sexual violence. In her case, there was the added complication that the jury comprised his fellow airmen on the base.<\/p>\n For the most part, the all-military panel sided with Davis over the two women. He was acquitted of six counts of sexual assault and one count of assault relating to Rebecca\u2019s allegations. He was also acquitted of four further sexual assaults and one assault against Emily. Davis was found not guilty of one charge of wrongful use of marijuana.<\/p>\n Davis was convicted of one count of sexual assault under article 120 of the US uniform code of military justice. It was the charge described not as rape, but as \u201cpenetrating her vulva with his penis without her consent\u201d. And it related to the incident in which he subsequently admitted, in a Facebook message: \u201cI never said you didn\u2019t say stop.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>A US Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle fighter plane after landing at RAF Lakenheath in April.<\/span> Photograph: Leon Neal\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The Davis case has echoes of that involving Capt Jacob Wulfson, a US fighter pilot, also based at RAF Lakenheath, who avoided the British justice system after strangling a woman in his apartment in Cambridge city centre in 2023. He was acquitted of a separate charge of sexual assault, relating to an allegation of non-consensual penetration that, as in the Davis case, was not charged as rape.<\/p>\n Wulfson\u2019s victim, Sarah Steele, an academic at Cambridge University, spoke to the Guardian last month about her \u201cdegrading\u201d ordeal at the court martial, prompting widespread cross-party concern in Westminster. David Lammy, the UK\u2019s deputy prime minister, has asked the US government to give a full account of what happened in Steele\u2019s case.<\/p>\n However, the Guardian\u2019s continuing investigation into British crimes prosecuted in US military tribunals suggests her case is far from an isolated one, amid mounting questions over the fairness of the US court martial system.<\/p>\n Had it not been for the Facebook message in which Davis admitted to non-consensual sex, Emily believes he \u201cwouldn\u2019t have even been convicted of anything\u201d. \u201cIt was my word against his,\u201d she said. \u201cThe only reason he got convicted of that one [charge] is because he admitted to it in text messages, so they could prove it.\u201d<\/p>\n Get in touch<\/p>\n The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject, you can contact us confidentially using the following methods:<\/p>\n The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS\/Android) and go to the menu. Select \u2018Secure Messaging\u2019. <\/p>\n If you can safely use the tor network without being observed or monitored you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform.<\/p>\n Finally, our guide at theguardian.com\/tips\u00a0lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span>Show more<\/p>\n For Rebecca, the conviction over Emily\u2019s complaint brought some measure of relief, despite the acquittals in relation to her own allegations. \u201cAt the time of the court case, my mental health was on the floor,\u201d she said. \u201cI think that\u2019s the lowest I\u2019ve ever been in my life. I\u2019ve come to accept whatever happened, happened. I did my part. I tried to protect other people.\u201d<\/p>\n Davis later brought an appeal, but in January 2024, a US air force appeals court upheld the conviction.<\/p>\n Contacted by the Guardian about the Davis prosecution, a spokesperson for the US air force\u2019s (USAF) military police said that, as an investigative agency, it could not respond to questions about \u201cdecisions around jurisdiction, charges, and legal proceedings\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cQuestions regarding these issues should be directed to the proper authorities. In this case, the local police should be better equipped to respond,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n Suffolk police said in a statement that jurisdiction over prosecuting Davis was transferred to USAF with the \u201cagreement of the victim\u201d [Rebecca], following a discussion with her, an independent adviser, and the air force\u2019s legal services.<\/p>\n Suffolk police did not directly respond to the Rebecca\u2019s complaint that she was not fully informed of the implications of her decision. \u201cWe are committed to ensuring our actions continue to be led by the wishes and best interest of victims and are keen to understand examples where this is not the experience of victims,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Norfolk police, which employs the ISVA who advised Rebecca, did address her complaint. \u201cWe recognise the victim\u2019s lived experience and are sorry she feels she was not fully informed about aspects of the military court process before making her decision,\u201d they said. \u201cWe will reflect on the circumstances of this case to ensure victims are given the clearest possible information to help them make informed decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n Davis did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n Under the criminal justice system in England and Wales, the offence for which Davis was convicted would likely have been charged as rape. Sentencing would have been determined by a judge, following guidelines ranging between four and 19 years, with a statutory maximum of life imprisonment.<\/p>\n The military system through which Davis was convicted could have imposed a sentence of up to 30 years. Davis\u2019s defence lawyers instead recommended 30 days of confinement. The decision on what would make an appropriate sentence was left to the same panel of officers and airmen who served as the jury.<\/p>\n After deliberating for more than two and a half hours, they settled on 10 months. Davis was also dishonourably discharged from the air force and placed on a sex offender registry, in which his status is now listed as \u201cabsconded\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHe could have had 30 years, but he got 10 months,\u201d Emily said. \u201cTen months is a slap on the wrist.\u201d<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Sophie Sullivan<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Minutes after fleeing the home of an American airman, Rebecca called 999 in tears to report that he had raped her. She recalls vomiting at a police station in Suffolk as she described being repeatedly and violently attacked. Officers took her to a sexual assault referral centre for an intimate examination. There, a nurse measured<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[2124,24145,473,24953,336,744,358,2131,3091,2168,418],"class_list":{"0":"post-51003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-accused","9":"tag-airman","10":"tag-american","11":"tag-angelic","12":"tag-british","13":"tag-military","14":"tag-rape","15":"tag-trial","16":"tag-wear","17":"tag-white","18":"tag-women"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u2018I thought I was going to die there\u2019<\/h2>\n
The promise of a faster trial<\/h2>\n
\u2018He kept trying. I kept saying no\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018He got a slap on the wrist\u2019<\/h2>\n
Contact our investigations team<\/h4>\n
Secure Messaging in the Guardian app<\/h4>\n
SecureDrop<\/h4>\n