The British military is no stranger to sexual abuse scandals. It is an institution which seems incapable of protecting its own people from internal predators and abusers. In the last week, two more scandals have emerged.

One case saw two instructors from a British Army training camp in Yorkshire jailed. The second case is about claims that up to 500 people were sexually abused during military medical examinations.

Two instructors from the Catterick infantry training camp were jailed for sexually abusing a teenage recruit. On 23 January, a military court heard how Lance Sergeant Antony Pugh and Sergeant Connor Forgan bragged in messages about “sexual relations with the trainee”.

The BBC reported:

Both had denied a charge of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust but were convicted by a court martial board following a trial last year.

Pugh was jailed for 20 months, while Forgan received a 16-month sentence and both were dismissed from the Army. They were also placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

British military: disgraceful, indecent, misogynistic

The judge presiding over the case was withering in her comments:

Any communications were expected to be professional but you both engaged in unprofessional communication which quickly turned sexual.

She said they discussed the recruit, a “17-year-old child”, in a “disgraceful, indecent and misogynistic manner”.

Power imbalance is exacerbated within the services, and service personnel are taught to follow the orders of those senior to them.

As instructors you were well aware of where the line was, and you both willingly stepped over that line for your own sexual interests.

The other scandal involves historical allegations.

Widespread sexual abuse

Wiltshire police launched an investigation into military sexual abuse during medicals in October 2025.

Detectives specifically want anyone who may have experienced criminal, inappropriate or unusual behaviour during Army enlistment medical examinations to contact them.

The police may not have expect the sheer scale of the response. On 23 January 2026, the BBC reported:

The force said it has since been contacted by people who reported incidents from the 1970s up to 2016 at locations across the UK and the investigation, named Operation Pianora, has now been widened to include both the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.

Detective superintendent Darren Hannant of Wiltshire police said:

The number of people who have contacted us highlights the seriousness of the abuse being reported, my team and I are committed to engaging with each survivor and witness.

Those who serve, or seek to serve, our country deserve to be treated with dignity and respect at every stage. I urge anyone with information to come forward – you will be listened to and supported.

The investigation continues.

Jaysley Beck reforms?

Teenage soldier Jaysley Beck killed herself in December 2021. Beck was sexual harassed and assaulted by more senior soldiers. She was later branded a troublemaker for complaining. And she was pressured to accept an apology letter from her assailant.

The army gave Beck’s attacker a mere six months in jail. And even that was only after a long legal battle by Beck’s lawyers and family. The Beck case became very high-profile. The army was to partly to blame, a coroner ruled.

The Centre for Military Justice (CMJ) said the inquest revealed a wider pattern of abuse:

Other young women at the Inquest gave evidence more widely of the vile and degrading comments and behaviours of males from equivalent and higher ranks that they had to put up with – treatment that left them humiliated, despondent, scared and angry.

The government said in February 2025, :

The Army has accepted the failings identified by the Service Inquiry and responded to the recommendations to improve Service life across its culture, policies, and practices.

Despite this – and despite the public outrage – sexual abuse is still happening in the military. People forget sometimes: the military is an employer. And most people would also accept that workers should have basic protections from abuse by their bosses. Yet for all its noise, the military seems to be incapable of guaranteeing even these. It’s long past time for serious change.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

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