Cases

Cpl Kerry-Ann Knight

We acted for Kerry-Ann Knight in her Employment Tribunal claim against the Army which resulted in a public apology and a substantial payment. You can read more about her case, here: BBC and Guardian; and in our short blog post, here. 

RAF servicewoman hid in toilet to escape her harasser

We acted for a service woman in the RAF who reported her Line Manager for several very serious acts of sexual harassment. When she raised a complaint about his behaviour, he decided to formally reprimand her for an alleged workplace failing that had taken place months before (and long before she had raised her complaint). The RAF also insisted he remain her 1st Reporting Officer for purposes of her annual appraisal, while he was under investigation for harassing her. It turns out a number of other young women had expressed concerns about his conduct too.  We supported her in her Service Complaint and Employment Tribunal claim. An apology was given and compensation was paid.  She has since left the RAF.

You can read more about her case here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-68168403

 

Black soldier wins race discrimination claim against the Army

Our client, Dwight Pile-Gray, has won his Employment Tribunal claim against the Army. The Tribunal found that he suffered direct race discrimination, harassment and victimisation. The BBC has reported his case, as has the Times, here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/racism-prejudice-british-army-interview-9pg9vjplv

The full judgment of the Employment Tribunal can be read here:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66190c13c1d297c6ad1dfe41/Mr_D_Pile-Gray_-v-_Ministry_of_Defence_-_2200649-2022.pdf

A challenge to the Legacy Act

We act for the family of Pte Tony Harrison, a 21-year old paratrooper who was murdered by the IRA in 1991. Following the Legacy Act coming into force, an outstanding investigation that was to be conducted by the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland into his killing, involving alleged collusion between members of the then police force and an IRA double-agent was brought to an immediate end, along with all other criminal investigations, ombudsman investigations, inquests and civil claims. The impact of this piece of legislation on former service personnel and their bereaved families was completely ignored by the Government that introduced the legislation. You can read more about the challenge here. 

Mr Bayo wins his claim for religious discrimination in the Army

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/03/british-army-admits-soldier-was-victim-of-anti-islamic-bias

An RLC soldier, our client Mr Bayo secured an apology and won his claim against the Army for religious discrimination. The Guardian reported the case, above.

Our blog here: https://centreformilitaryjustice.org.uk/religious-and-racial-discrimination-in-the-army/

H v Ministry of Defence - RAF Corporal wins her sexual assault claim against the MoD even though her assailant was acquitted in the court martial

Our case of H v Ministry of Defence was reported in the Daily Mail here:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11585187/Female-RAF-Corporal-wins-sex-abuse-tribunal-court-martial-clears-male-colleague-abused-her.html

And Times, here:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/molested-raf-corporal-set-for-payout-pvzb593sq

It is important because, despite her assailant being acquitted of sexual assault by penetration at court martial, H was able to persuade the Employment Tribunal that her assailant had done what she had alleged, and that the RAF was responsible for it, because it had occurred ‘during the course of her employment’.

Despite accepting that the male corporal had sexually assaulted her, the RAF allowed him to continue serving in the RAF until late 2022 when he was permitted to leave at his own request (and presumably with all attendant benefits). He was not dismissed in disgrace. And despite professing to have a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to sexual harassment and assault, the RAF/MoD are now appealing the judgment.

H was represented by Emma Norton of the CMJ and Nicola Braganza KC at Garden Court Chambers.

T v Ministry of Defence: the MoD can no longer discriminate against veterans on the grounds of their disability

We acted for T in her Employment Tribunal claim against the Royal Navy in which she claimed that she had been subjected to serious and sustained sexual harassment and that, in the way the RN conducted the internal complaints process, the RN had continued to discriminate against her. An Employment Tribunal ruled that the Ministry of Defence can no longer discriminate against veterans on the grounds of their disability and the Equality Act 2010 as presently drafted breaches disabled veterans’ human rights. The case settled and compensation was paid to T.

The case featured in a Discrimination Law Association briefing, here.

You can read more about the experiences of T, here: https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/sexual-harassment-armed-forces

The late Pte Sean Benton - Army failed to act on assurances given in court

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/28/deepcut-deaths-army-treating-victims-families-with-contempt

The Guardian reported the successful outcome to the Benton family’s threat of judicial review against the Army for it’s failure to act upon assurances given at the inquest into the death of Pte Sean Benton.

Sean was the first of the young soldiers to die at Deepcut barracks in Surrey. At his inquest in 2018, the Army promised the Coroner that it would ensure all trainees were informed they report to the civilian police if they were abused. On the basis of that assurance, the Coroner declined to make a ‘Prevention of Future Deaths’ report.

The Benton family wanted to be sure the Army had acted on the assurances it had given to the Coroner. So we made various enquiries, culminating in a formal letter before action, threatening to take them to the High Court. It transpired the Army had not done what it had said it would do.  They have formally apologised to the family and have taken steps – very belatedly – to correct the position.

We acted for the family. Counsel was Jesse Nicholls from Matrix Chambers.

LCpl Joel Robinson - bullying, service complaints and suicide

‘Service Complaints are by definition when things are going wrong for a soldier and the raising of a Service Complaint may be thought of as a potential risk factor’. Senior Coroner for Berkshire.

The inquest into the death of LCpl Joel Robinson was heard before the Senior Coroner for Berkshire between 9-11 November 2021. The CMJ’s lawyer, Emma Norton, and counsel Adam Payter of 6KBW College Hill acted for Joel’s mother Angela Robinson.

An excerpt of a BBC interview with the family’s solicitor can be heard here:

 

LCpl Joel Robinson died on 25 March 2019. He was 24 years old.

He served in the Household Cavalry. At the time of his death, he was based at Combermere Barracks in Windsor, although he had recently returned from Germany where he had been based since June 2017.

Joel’s mother, Angela Robinson, describes him as a warm, loyal, sociable young man with a wide circle of friends. He was a very gifted horseman and it was his passion for horses that had drawn him to the Army aged 16.

In the summer before he died Joel made a formal complaint alleging that he was being bullied, harassed, victimised and discriminated against by his Line Manager. The inquest has heard that Joel described being isolated, humiliated, ignored, that he suffered ‘bitter, bullying behaviour’ and that his boss had threatened to ‘kick his head in’. This had been going on for many months. Joel had tried repeatedly to raise his concerns with his chain of command.  He described feeling ‘so lonely and depressed’ and said that the manager had made his life ‘a living hell’. He told a friend that a less experienced soldier faced with this kind of behaviour might well have killed themselves.

Joel sent a copy of his complaint to his mother. He told his mother and his friends that he feared the impact on his career of having made the complaint. In September 2018, Joel told his mother that he was no longer going ahead with it.

The inquest heard evidence of multiple serious breaches of the Army’s policies on the handling of service complaints and bullying allegations, involving at least six senior officers.

Some months later, despite a glowing annual report and having been recommended for promotion, Joel was passed over for promotion and given what he considered to be a ‘punishment posting’.

He died from hanging in his accommodation block in the early hours of 25 March 2019. When he died, he was very heavily intoxicated and evidence was heard that his chain of command was aware that he was drinking heavily.

Both the medical witness and MoD witness at the inquest confirmed that they would have expected senior officers to have referred Joel to the welfare or medical teams for help. However that did not happen.

After he died, his mother asked the Army what had happened to her son’s complaint. The Adjutant told her that the Army had no record of Joel being bullied.  Despite evidence that Joel’s complaint was shared with and between senior officers both electronically and in hard copy, no explanation has ever been provided by the Army or the Ministry of Defence for its disappearance.

The Senior Coroner concluded that senior officers were ‘wholly or mostly unaware’ of the complaints policy; and that ‘no trace’ of Joel’s complaint had been found.  She expressed concern at the ‘passive’ approach of the Army to its suicide prevention work and stated her intention to issue formal ‘Prevention of Future Deaths’ reports addressing among other things, the timeline for the Army to conclude its suicide prevention programme, and the need to address a lack of awareness in the Army on how to handle Service Complaints. She said: ‘Service Complaints are by definition when things are going wrong for a soldier and the raising of a Service Complaint may be thought of as a potential risk factor’.

Joel’s mother Angela Robinson said:

‘Joel felt worthless, worn down and exhausted. His allegations of bullying had been dismissed and based on what I’ve heard at this inquest and what Joel told me himself, I believe he was discouraged from continuing with it.  Bullying complaints like his are just not taken seriously enough.  I remain shocked that the only reason my son’s bullying complaint came to light was because he sent a copy to me. The Army would never have produced it themselves. Joel was also drinking far too much and the culture of binge drinking in the Army is a huge problem. Young soldiers are not being offered help quickly enough and suicide rates seem to be going up and up. Joel was very badly let down. I am glad the Coroner will be writing to the head of the Army, and sincerely hope that lessons will be learned from this and I would like an opportunity sit down and talk to the MoD about Joel’s case.’

The family’s solicitor Emma Norton, from the Centre for Military Justice, said:

‘This case has shone a much-needed spotlight on the experiences of young, vulnerable soldiers trying to raise serious complaints of bullying through their own chain of command. Joel’s complaint was not acted on properly and then appears to have simply disappeared. The Army and MoD will say, as they always do, that they do not tolerate bullying. But until they introduce a measure of independence into the complaints process – as was recommended by a review more than two years ago – sad cases like this are likely to recur.’

Notes to Editors

The Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces, has repeatedly found the service complaints process to be neither ‘efficient, effective or fair’.  In particular, the Ombudsman has warned of the persistent evidence she has received that soldiers are dissuaded from making complaints or warned that it would not be in the best interests of their career to make a complaint.

The Army has a formal complaints process, which can be accessed here.  There is a formal bullying and harassment policy, which can be accessed here.  The policies in place at the time required the chain of command to check in on complainants around three months after they had informally resolved a bullying complaint, to ensure the behaviour had not recurred; and for a record of the complaint to be retained on both the unit records and on the equality and diversity logs for up to ten years. That did not happen.

In July 2019, the Wigston Review Into Inappropriate Behaviours recommended that responsibility for the investigation of serious service complaints alleging bullying, harassment and discrimination should be taken away from the single services’ chain of command and held by a new centralised Defence Authority. Despite initially stating that it accepted that recommendation, the Ministry of Defence has since resiled from it and confirmed that serious service complaints shall remain the responsibility of the single services themselves.

Legal team

The family was represented by Emma Norton, solicitor at the Centre for Military Justice and Adam Payter, counsel, of 6KBW College Hill

Judicial review of the Ministry of Defence's policy on service personnel contacting the media or Parliament

The CMJ is acting for three claimants that are challenging the MoD’s policy governing service personnel’s contact with the media or with Parliament.

The claimants are three service women that wish to speak out about sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexism and racism.  The policy prevents them from doing so without first seeking the consent of the very institution they wish to criticise.

In this way, the policy amounts to a violation of their right to freedom of expression.

A blog and some press coverage of the case can be accessed here:

Service personnel should be allowed to exercise their right to freedom of speech to help bring about reform

 

Alicia's Story - Human Rights Act claim as a result of military prosecutor failings

Alicia was the victim of a serious sexual assault in 2015. It was investigated by the service police, prosecuted by the Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA) and went to Court Martial. The case collapsed following serious failures on the part of the SPA prosecutor. It turned out that the prosecutor was the same prosecutor that had badly mishandled the case of the late Cpl Anne-Marie Ellement years before and which had, the Ellement family had been assured, resulted in important changes being made to the way such cases would be handled in the future. The CMJ acted for Alicia in her civil claim against the SPA, on the basis that her right to a competent and thorough investigation (including prosecution) of her allegation of sexual assault, as protected by Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Human Rights Act) had been violated. The claim settled out of court in 2020. The BBC reported the case here:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54614232

The Ellement family supported Alicia in bringing the claim and they have worked together to highlight the wider failures it revealed. Alicia’s experiences are yet further evidence of the need for fundamental reform to the way in which the military handles sexual assault cases. The Ellement family and Alicia are calling for all such cases, where they are alleged to have happened in the UK, to be handled by the civilian justice system.

Judicial review brought by three rape survivors

The Centre for Military Justice acted for three women who reported being raped while serving. Their cases were handled in the Service Justice System and were not investigated by civilian police, handled by the CPS or sent to Crown Court. They challenged the handling of these cases inside the Armed Forces and, in particular, the MoD’s recent rejection of a recommendation by a senior retired judge and former chief constable that all cases of rape should be handed over to civilian authorities.

The women relied on the Human Rights Act and the Equality Act.

In light of the judicial review, the Secretary of State said in June 2020 that he would give ‘fresh consideration’ to the matter.

Following that re-consideration, which took place over the summer and autumn of 2020, the Secretary of State determined that the matter of jurisdiction should now be placed on a statutory footing and would now be included within the Armed Forces Bill. He also agreed to review all of the internal policies and protocols governing the handling of sexual offences. The litigants insisted that a fresh Defence Instruction Notice (DIN) should be issued that would require all service personnel to be informed of their right to report any matter to the civilian police. This was initially refused by the Secretary of State, however upon the litigants’ refusal to agree a consent order in the case, the Secretary of State agreed to issue a new DIN.

The judicial review was settled on the basis that the Secretary of State agreed to place the matter before Parliament (which subsequently happened when the Armed Forces Bill was published (see Clause 7)), to consult with the public, and to review all the internal policies on the handling of sexual offences.  

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/may/03/women-launch-legal-action-to-stop-military-courts-trying-uk-cases

Lance Corporal Bernard Mongan

L/Cpl Bernard Mongan’s body was found in his room at Catterick Garrison at the end of January 2020.

His body had lain in his room, undiscovered, for 3 weeks before he was found. Bernie had been badly assaulted by two fellow soldiers at the end of 2018, and a police investigation was still ongoing when he died. Bernie told his wife that he was being bullied. A Service Inquiry reported to the family in July 2021 and was reported here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57791039 and here: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bullied-soldier-who-lay-dead-24506635

Because Bernie was left for so long, the family do not have a cause of death and the Coroner has opened an inquest.

The family has many questions about how Bernie died, whether the bullying or assault had anything to do with his death and how it was that he was left in his room on barracks, alone, for so long, with no-one in the Army apparently noticing or reporting him as missing.

Amy's Story

A serving soldier who was the victim of sexual assault threatened judicial review proceedings against the MoD for its failure to institute a system of independent oversight of the Service Police, equivalent to the civilian system of police oversight. As a consequence of her judicial review, the MoD agreed to conduct a review of the system of service police oversight, the outcome of which was published in February 2020. The MoD states that it now accepts in principle the need for independent oversight of service policing and will consider the review’s proposals (for the creation of a ‘niche’ body) in more detail. Our blog on the review’s outcome can be found under News, above, dated 28 February 2020.

Lucy's Story

A serving soldier was the victim of a sexual assault. She threatened judicial review proceedings against the MoD, challenging the statutory power of a Commanding Officer to investigate for him/herself an allegation of sexual assault and the exclusion of sexual assault from the list of alleged crimes that had to be referred to the (service) police.  This issue had been raised with the MoD by the families of the late Cpl Anne-Marie Ellement and the late Pte Cheryl James but had not resulted in the requested changes to the legislation. Following her letter before action, the MoD finally agreed to amend the legislation and it is now compulsory for all commanding officers to refer all allegations of sexual assault to the Service Police. 

Joe's Story

A former sailor, forced out of the Royal Navy because of his sexuality in 1995, was stripped of his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal and his Good Conduct Badges. Now elderly and in poor health, he asked to have them restored. Notwithstanding the lifting of the ban on LGBT people serving in the Armed Forces, the MoD refused. Judicial review proceedings were brought following which the MoD agreed to return the badges and medal, and to bring in a new policy which would allow other LGBT former service personnel to apply to have their medals restored. You can see more about his story on this BBC article

Joe is now working closely with the CMJ to ensure the promised policy is finalised as soon as possible so that other veterans may benefit from it. The CMJ is working with our partners to explore whether there are other, additional ways the MoD can support its LGBT veterans. 

Anna's Story

A soldier, Anna, reported a rape by a fellow male soldier but, following what she considered to be an inadequate service police investigation, her alleged assailant was not charged by the Service Prosecution Authority. After the SPA confirmed that it was not going to charge the alleged assailant, Anna’s Commanding Officer informed her that she would now be investigated under the Army’s own internal administrative procedures (known as ‘AGAI’) to determine if she had breached the so-called ‘Service Test’. This meant that she would have to undergo further interviews, investigation and other processes arising from the alleged rape and on the basis that her own conduct was now being called into question. 

Sarah's Story

A soldier, Sarah, reported being sexually assaulted by a male soldier in her unit. The Service Police did not conduct an adequate investigation in several respects. This included the proposal, by the Royal Military Police, that Sarah agree to the alleged assailant admitting to the lesser charge of common assault, rather than the sexual assault with which he had been charged. Sarah lodged a formal complaint about various aspects of the conduct of the Service Police. While an apology was eventually offered and some organisational changes were made, the Professional Standards Unit declined to take any further action on the basis that the principle RMP soldier responsible had by then left the unit. The RMP failures in this case led, in the client’s firm opinion, to the male soldier being acquitted at Court Martial. When he acquitted the defendant, the Judge Advocate made very critical remarks about the RMP.

Mary's Story

A soldier, Mary, reported being raped by a male soldier in her chain of command. The soldier she accused was acquitted at trial. However, Mary wanted to lodge a service complaint concerning the sustained sexual harassment she had suffered at the hands of the soldier before the alleged assault and the way in which her chain of command had treated her after her report of rape and while she waited for her case to come to court.  Her service complaint was dismissed at the first stage but upheld almost entirely on appeal. A formal apology was offered, compensation was paid and it was accepted that the response of the Army to the entire situation had cost Mary her extremely promising career.