Cambridgeshire police are facing mounting scrutiny after conceding that they allowed the US military to take investigative primacy in the case of Sarah Steele, who was strangled by a US fighter pilot in his Cambridge city centre apartment in 2023. The force has acknowledged that it ceded responsibility to the US Air Force (USAF) despite the crime occurring off-base and the pilot being off duty, raising concerns about the erosion of UK jurisdiction over crimes involving American service personnel.
Victim Disputes Police Account
Steele, 42, has insisted that she never told anyone she did not wish to speak to British police, contradicting a claim by US military investigators that the police relied upon. In a statement, Cambridgeshire police said that "information shared by the USAF indicated that the victim did not wish to be contacted by Cambridgeshire constabulary" and that "key investigative steps had already been undertaken by USAF." However, Steele stated: "I absolutely did not tell anyone then that I didn't wish to speak to the British police." She described the police's approach as not victim-led, as she was not consulted before the decision was made.
US Military Justice System Under Fire
The decision paved the way for Capt Jacob Wulfson to be tried by a court martial at RAF Lakenheath, a US airbase in Suffolk, rather than in a UK court. In April 2026, Wulfson was convicted of strangling Steele on their first in-person meeting after connecting on a dating app. He was acquitted of penetrating her without consent and aggravated sexual contact. In an English court, the latter charge would likely have been categorised as rape. The jury consisted of an all-male panel of fellow air force officers from Wulfson's base, who sentenced him to six months in a correctional facility and dismissed him from the air force.
Questions Over Jurisdiction
Steele has described her experience with the US military justice system as "degrading and distressing." The Guardian's investigation prompted widespread concern, with the UK government pledging to look into the case. The prime minister's spokesperson called it "deeply distressing." A USAF spokesperson said they "negotiated jurisdiction" with Cambridgeshire police, adding that the force "agreed to let the USAF take the lead." UK law enforcement should normally have primary responsibility for crimes occurring off-base and off-duty, but in practice, US authorities often seek to maximise their jurisdiction.
Timeline of Events
Steele, an academic, began talking to Wulfson on Tinder in September 2023. They met at his flat on 1 December 2023. Within 48 hours, a friend took her to a sexual assault referral clinic and then to military police on a nearby US base. Steele, sleep-deprived and in shock, believed the meeting with the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) would be preliminary but found herself being formally interviewed. OSI arrested Wulfson and notified Cambridgeshire police they would handle the case. Steele later said it felt like "the train left the station." In February 2024, Cambridgeshire police conducted a welfare check after a disturbance involving Wulfson and spoke to Steele about the assault. The force said she confirmed she wanted the matter to remain with the USAF, but Steele noted that by then the investigation was well advanced and she feared restarting the process or Wulfson fleeing the UK, citing the Anne Sacoolas case.
Policy Contradictions and Political Reaction
Cambridgeshire police's actions appear to contradict a policy prepared in 2023 by Norfolk and Suffolk police, which stated they would "not usually waive jurisdiction" when harm is caused to a UK citizen. Labour MP Jess Phillips has pledged to change the system, saying: "No UK victim should be handed over to the US military for a crime committed on UK soil unless that is exactly what they want to happen." Nick Timothy, Conservative MP for West Suffolk, has written to the justice secretary demanding answers, stating: "This case should have been fully investigated by the English police and prosecuted in our courts." Steele is calling for UK police forces to formally record decisions to hand over cases to the US and to seek victims' views before doing so.
