British soldiers in custody in US on rape charge

[Judi Lynn]

British soldiers in custody in US on rape charge
03/09/2005 - 10:54:59

Two British soldiers have appeared in court in the US, charged with rape.

22-year-old Scott Aitken, from Edinburgh, and Andrew Leighton, a 28-year-old from Leeds, are alleged to have attacked a woman in June while on a training exercise in Wyoming.

Both pleaded not guilty to a charge of first degree sexual assault, which carries a maximum jail term of 50 years imprisonment.

They will be held in joint British and American military custody until their trial in December.
(snip/...)

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2005/09/03/story219030.html

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Odd the news hasn't been made public until now.

[oscarmitre]

1. It will be interesting

to see if they are tried by the British military or the US civil authorities. For mine they should be tried by US civil authorities. However if they follow precedent then the British military will try them which would be totally inappropriate.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. What precedent?

They just appeared in a US court, so that would appear to be the precedent they are following. The British military can't claim authority (unlike, say, Iraq, where they got laws passed saying the foreign troops aren't subject to Iraqi law). I would always expect cases like this to be tried in the civil courts where the offence was committed.