US fighter pilot dodged trial after strangling Brit woman in UK & used kill count to get soft sentence in court martial
THE Ministry of Justice has said it will investigate the case of a British woman who was strangled by an American fighter pilot.
Downing Street has said it is “very concerning” that Captain Jacob Wulfson evaded trial in the UK for strangling Cambridge academic Sarah Steele.
Cpt Wulfson was instead tried at a court martial on a US airbase, despite the alleged crime taking place while he was off-duty in Cambridge.
As first reported by the Guardian, the case was not investigated by the local police and was instead handed to the US military.
Her case was quickly taken on by American military police and he was tried by US air force prosecutors.
The F-35 pilot even used his enemies killed in action count as mitigation and ended up with a six month sentence.
Ms Steele, an academic, said she was treated “incredibly aggressively” by the pilot’s defence team and felt like she was the one on trial.
Speaking about the trial, Ms Steele said: “It was a very difficult system to be in, and at times I was treated incredibly aggressively, and I felt like I was on trial, and it became a character assassination.
“People are attacking you with assertions that are trying to undermine, say that you’re lying, say that you’re a problem, say that you’re all manner of evil things and that you’re creating this, and you’ve got to wade through that staring in the face of the accused.”
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman questioned why the case never reached the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service).
He 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.”
He said the Government was “going to look really carefully at what’s happened here, and we must stress that we’re still establishing the facts”.
“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.”
While he refused to comment on the specifics of the case, justice minister Jake Richards told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme it was “serious”.
He said: “It’s a really serious case, really. It’s very good that it’s being raised by yourselves and others.
“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 continued: “There are issues around military courts, whether that is in America or indeed our own, and how that interplays with our criminal courts and our civil courts.
“That’s always an area that we look at. I will take this specific case, and you’ll appreciate that I don’t want to say anything that might undermine what needs to be a really thorough and objective look at this case over the coming days and weeks.”
UK law enforcement is meant to have primary jurisdiction over crimes that take place outside US bases when military personnel are off duty.
Ms Steele met Cpt Wulfson on a dating app and eventually arranged to meet at his flat while he was working at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.
She left his flat the next morning feeling that something was wrong, later accusing him of non-consensual sex, drugging and strangling her, the Guardian reported.
He was charged with sexual assault and aggravated sexual contact, and was ultimately found guilty of strangulation, but acquitted of the other charges.
The judge in the court martial was a US air force colonel and the jury was a panel of eight air force officers.
Some British terms had to be explained to the panel, and Cpt Wulfson’s “enemies killed in action count” as an F-35 pilot was used as mitigation for his sentence, the newspaper said.
Ms Steele’s case would likely have been tried at a crown court had it been handled by the Crown Prosecution Service.
The court martial handed Cpt Wulfson a sentence of six months at a correctional facility at RAF Lakenheath.
Calling for clearer guidance on who should prosecute such cases, she said: “I think it’s really important that for the interests of justice and for the rights of victims, that we have clear framework discussion around this.”
There are around 12 active US air force bases across the UK.
The US military justice system has a distinct legal framework and is separate from British civilian courts.
Nick Timothy MP has written to the justice secretary asking him to investigate the case.
He said in a post to X: “Sarah Steele was strangled and allegedly sexually assaulted by a US fighter pilot based in West Suffolk.
“He was tried in a US military court by a jury of fellow officers. This is surely not right.”
Ben Obese-Jecty who is MP for Huntingdon praised Ms Steele’s bravery for waiving her right to anonymity.
