Base justice US military 'Degrading': why did a US fighter pilot avoid British trial after strangling a woman in England

[malaise]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-interactive/2026/jun/25/us-fighter-pilot-strangled-woman-england-why-military-trial

When Sarah Steele woke up on the morning of 2 December 2023, she found herself in a pool of cold water in a bathtub. She was naked and in the apartment of an American fighter pilot she had met in person for the first time the night before. She was confused. Her head hurt, and so did her neck.

This was the account Steele, a British academic, provided to prosecutors. They later accused the pilot, Capt Jacob Wulfson, of drugging and strangling Steele in his apartment in the east of England, and penetrating her vagina with his penis without her consent.

In the criminal justice system for England and Wales, Wulfson’s trial would probably have been held at the city’s crown court, and the alleged offence categorised as rape. A jury of ordinary citizens – men and women – would have heard the case. If found guilty, a judge would have decided the sentence.

However, Wulfson’s case was tried at a court martial on a US airbase, despite his alleged crime taking place while he was off duty and in an English city. The proceedings followed US military law, and the offence was not charged as rape but as sexual assault and “aggravated sexual contact”.
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