Streeting 'sickened' by sex abuse claims at Army college

AFC is the largest military training establishment for under-19s in the UK and it receives all the Army's 16-year-old recruits.

North Yorkshire Police told the BBC in a response to a Freedom of Information Act request it had received 16 reports of sexual offences linked to the college in the year to June, including allegations of exposure, voyeurism and sexual assault.

No information was included on whether the reports had led to prosecutions.

A total of 176 complaints of inappropriate sexual behaviour at the college were made between January 2018 and June 2025, according to Ministry of Defence (MoD) data.

The women, whose names have been changed to protect their identities, all attended AFC over the last five years.

One woman, Tilly, told the BBC she was 17 when she was raped at AFC by several fellow soldiers who invited her into their room.

"They started taking my clothes off and then this led to them doing stuff I didn't consent to.

"And then I was raped… by multiple junior soldiers, same age as me. It went on for hours. I felt like a piece of meat."

Streeting said he sympathised with the women who had been "badly failed", and praised them for speaking up.

"We have a duty to uphold the very highest standards in uniform and to treat every woman with the dignity and respect she deserves.

"I don't want anyone who has the ambition and talent to join our armed forces to be deterred, so it's contingent on us to make sure that we've got our act together," he added.

Another woman's story was shared with the BBC by her mother, who said her daughter Amy was sexually assaulted and subjected to almost daily sexual harassment during her training.

Because the lock to Amy's room was not working, her mother said "she found herself sleeping across the door to stop male soldiers coming in".

Another woman, who said she was sexually assaulted and harassed at AFC, described how misogynistic attitudes and behaviour of staff rubbed off on some of the male teenagers.

She recalled one of the instructors saying: "It's all about the pussy and how much of it you can get."

The MoD told the BBC that the college "welcomes external scrutiny and challenge".

It said that AFC had in the last year "hosted the safeguarding bodies, parliamentarians, the Children's Commissioner's office and the Armed Forces Commissioner, as well as receiving an outstanding report from Ofsted".

Earlier this week, Sarah Atherton, former MP for Wrexham, told the BBC that public confidence in the college could "only be restored through an independent inquiry".

Atherton, who previously served in the Army's Intelligence Corps, led a 2021 government review into the experiences of women in the armed forces.

Emma Lewell MP said: "If this was any other school or residential environment for children, it would have been closed down."

The Children's Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza said she would ensure the "appalling attacks" were investigated and "those responsible, including for failing to safeguard these girls, are held to account".

She said all children living away from home had a right to contact her team for support, and that she would make sure all girls at AFC could do so.