UK Reviews Jurisdiction in 12,000-Troop US Forces Cases as Police Ceded Serious Crime Probes
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jul 30
UK Reviews Jurisdiction in 12,000-Troop US Forces Cases as Police Ceded Serious Crime Probes
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 30
Summary
Multiple UK departments and police chiefs are reviewing why local forces handed serious crime investigations involving US personnel to American military authorities, allowing suspects to face court martial instead of British courts.
The scrutiny followed Guardian reporting on sexual offence cases, including Capt Jacob Wulfson, who was court-martialled in Suffolk, acquitted of sexual assault and jailed six months for strangling Sarah Steele.
Ministers have met Steele, promised to seek a full US account, and are working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council to ensure forces refer such cases to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Suffolk and Cambridgeshire police are separately reviewing past transfers of primacy, amid concern forces may have ceded cases the US did not have primary jurisdiction to prosecute.
The issue reaches beyond one case: more than 12,000 US personnel are stationed across at least 15 UK bases, and MPs from multiple parties say crimes in England should be tried under English law.
Why do UK police bypass their own justice system to let accused US soldiers face military courts instead?
Is a decades-old military treaty secretly shielding foreign soldiers from facing British justice for serious crimes?
British Justice Undermined? The 2026 Review of US Military Crime Protocols and the Fight for Legal Sovereignty
Overview
A major review was launched in July 2026 after The Guardian revealed that UK police often handed over investigations of serious crimes by US military personnel to American authorities, bypassing the Crown Prosecution Service. This practice allowed suspects like James Loubeau, convicted in the US for assaults committed in the UK, to avoid British courts, sparking public outrage. In response, UK police and government agencies began overhauling protocols to ensure all such cases are referred to the CPS. The crisis highlights systemic loopholes in international agreements and growing demands for host nations to assert legal sovereignty over foreign troops.