Streeting 'sickened' by sex abuse claims at Army college

Streeting 'sickened' by sex abuse claims at Army college The Army Foundation College (AFC) is the UK’s largest training establishment for under‑19s and takes in every 16‑year‑old Army recruit. North Yorkshire Police told the BBC that, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, they had received 16 reports of sexual offences linked to the institution over the year to June, including allegations of exposure, voyeurism and sexual assault. No indication was given as to whether any of those reports resulted in prosecutions. According to Ministry of Defence data, a total of 176 complaints of inappropriate sexual behaviour at AFC were recorded between January 2018 and June 2025. The women involved, whose names have been changed to protect their identities, each attended AFC within the past five years. One survivor, identified only as Tilly, told the BBC she was 17 when she was raped at AFC by several fellow soldiers who had invited her into their room. She recalled: "They started taking my apparel disconnected and past this led to them doing worldly I didn't consent to." "And past I was raped… by aggregate inferior soldiers, aforesaid property arsenic me. It went connected for hours. I felt similar a portion of meat." Streeting said he sympathised with the women who had been "badly failed", and praised them for speaking up. He added: "We person a work to uphold the precise highest standards successful azygous and to dainty each pistillate with the dignity and respect she deserves", helium added. Earlier this week, Sarah Atherton, former MP for Wrexham, told the BBC that public confidence in the institution could "only beryllium restored done an autarkic inquiry". Atherton, who previously served in the Army's Intelligence Corps, led a 2021 government