Ministry of Defence pays out £2m to settle cadets’ sexual abuse claims
The Ministry of Defence has paid out more than £2m in out-of-court settlements over the past three years as a result of claims of sexual abuse against young people within the ranks of the cadet forces.
The allegations included sex abuse rituals performed by teenage boys on younger cadets in their charge, as well as the case of a cadet who was raped and gave birth to her abuser’s child.
Eight payouts, totalling £544,213, were made this year, according to records released in response to a freedom of information request from the Guardian seeking figures for payments for alleged sexual abuse within the Army Cadets, Combined Cadet Force, and Air Cadet Organisation.
The data, which was recorded in a way that did not distinguish between the various cadet groups, shows that £1,475,844 was paid out in five payments in 2012. Payouts in 2013 totalled £64,782 and there were no payouts in 2011.
While some of the settlements reached in the last few years were made to adults for abuse perpetrated when they were children, some are understood to relate to much more recent abuse claims.
Rebecca Sheriff, a senior solicitor at Bolt Burdon Kemp, who has acted for several clients in claims arising from abuse suffered in the Army Cadets at the hands of military staff, said: “It is common practice for sex offenders to seek out positions of authority in organisations such as the Army Cadets, and vulnerable children need to be safeguarded from this risk. It is terrible that often these children have joined the cadets with a view to a career in the armed services, which they are unable to pursue as a result of abuse by people that they should have been able to trust.”
The mother of a boy abused by two older teenage cadets said she had yet to receive an apology from the cadet authorities although they agreed to an out-of-court settlement of just over £23,000.
The abuse of the boy happened at a cadets’ weekend in East Anglia and allegedly involved the two older boys going into a dormitory over the course of a number of nights and lying naked on top of the younger cadets, putting their penises in the boys’ mouths. One youngster was allegedly made to drink coffee laced with urine. She reported the abuse to police, who, she says, interviewed the alleged perpetrators nine months later. They were not charged but were given a warning.
The mother said: “If something like that goes on and is not right then somebody needs to take responsibility, and the cadets had to pay what they paid to compensate for all the hurt … But the two lads have got away with it, they just received warnings, and it was put on file. [The police] said it was bullying and intimidation of a sexual nature – because it wasn’t anything like a rape.”
She added: “I believe that they had been doing it for a while. It makes me sick and saddened inside. It really, really, does. I was told that the cadets had their own internal investigation but I’m not aware of what happened.”
In the period between the incident being reported to police and action being taken to detain the boys, her son, she says, was chased by one of the abusers near his home and subjected to intimidation on Facebook.
“My son had wanted to go into the army to learn a trade and a career. He loved it beforehand, so that was a massive disappointment to him as well. But immediately afterwards he was left with so much guilt. That was what hurt him the most. He was afraid of his own shadow and began to get really, really, angry and became withdrawn and afraid. The effect that it had on my boy, it was so sad for me to see.”
Another out-of-court settlement involved a claimant who was sexually abused by an adult cadet instructor while she was a member of the group. The abuse started when she was 14 and progressed to rape, which led to her becoming pregnant and giving birth to the abuser’s child. After the abuse, she suffered from chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic dysthymia (a form of depression) and a number of complex psychological problems. The MoD admitted liability at an early stage and settled the claim for £210,000.
The settlements made in 2012 include a successful claim for £900,000 by four people who were abused when they were young members of the Army Cadets in Harborne, Birmingham.
Severe sexual abuse was perpetrated by two of the cadet force instructors behind the closed doors of an army hut, rifle range, and at camp. Lawyers for the victims said that abuse was openly acknowledged within what they called “a permissive atmosphere” and appeared accepted as normal.
One of the instructors, Peter Cooper, was convicted of buggery and indecent assault in September 2007 in relation to one of the claimants. At the time of his arrest he was a serving police officer with the West Midlands constabulary. The other instructor is now dead.
An MoD spokesperson said: “We take any allegation of abuse extremely seriously. All adult volunteers undergo enhanced criminal record checks and are made fully aware of their responsibility to protect children from harm. Any suspicion of bullying, harassment or abuse will be dealt with immediately and any allegation of a criminal nature is handed to the police. This is reinforced throughout all safeguarding training.”
Another freedom of information request by the Guardian revealed that 12 allegations – of which 10 were referred to the police – were logged in 2014 by the child protection officer employed by the Army Cadets (which has 46,000 teenage cadets and 8,500 adult volunteers in the UK). The child protection officer has logged more than 36 allegations of sexual abuse since 2011.