Downing Street has said it is “very concerning” that British authorities were not involved in the prosecution of an American fighter pilot who strangled a woman in Cambridge. Responding to a Guardian investigation, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the case of Sarah Steele, an academic assaulted by the pilot in his apartment, as “deeply distressing”.
Case Details
The pilot, Jacob Wulfson, 32, a US Air Force captain, was convicted of strangling an intimate partner but acquitted of sexual assault during a court martial at RAF Lakenheath, a US airbase in west Suffolk. He received a six-month sentence in a corrections facility, handed down by an all-male panel of air force officers serving as the equivalent of a jury, and was dismissed from the air force.
Cambridgeshire Police acknowledged they ceded jurisdiction, allowing the US military to take control of the case. UK law enforcement has primary jurisdiction over crimes occurring outside US bases while military personnel are off duty, making this case a focus on how UK authorities cede authority to the US military.
Government Response
Starmer’s spokesperson said: “This is clearly a deeply distressing case, our thoughts are with the victim. She’s shown incredible bravery not only in her initial report to police but also in coming forward to speak to the media to help get justice for others.” The spokesperson added that the government was “going to look really carefully at what’s happened here… But of course this is very concerning that a case like this never reached the CPS, but was investigated by US airbase police and heard in front of an all-male panel of air force officers.”
Justice Minister Jake Richards told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he would not comment on specifics but described the case as “serious”. He said: “It’s a really serious case… I’m going to take it away back to the Ministry of Justice and make sure that we are looking into the details of this later.” He added that there are issues around military courts and their interplay with criminal and civil courts, which is always an area under review.
Impact and Context
Wulfson’s court martial, details revealed by the Guardian, was heard in April at Lakenheath, the largest US military base in the UK. Steele waived her right to anonymity to speak about her experience, highlighting the case’s broader implications for UK-US jurisdiction arrangements.
