UK defence secretary sickened by sex abuse allegations at Army teen college

UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has said he is "absolutely sickened" by reports of rape and sexual abuse of young female recruits at the Army Foundation College (AFC) in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Four women told the BBC they were sexually assaulted and harassed while attending the college, describing a widespread culture of misogyny and sexual violence.

Scale of the problem

According to Ministry of Defence data, 176 complaints of inappropriate sexual behaviour were filed at the AFC between January 2018 and June 2025. North Yorkshire Police confirmed receiving 16 reports of sexual offences linked to the college in the year to June alone, including allegations of exposure, voyeurism and sexual assault. No information was provided on whether any reports led to prosecutions.

Survivor accounts

One woman, identified only as Tilly, told the BBC she was 17 when she was raped at the college by several fellow soldiers. "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."

Government response

Streeting said he would look in detail at what went wrong at Harrogate and examine more broadly how to drive a programme of culture change across the armed forces and defence. The Army said unacceptable and criminal behaviour has absolutely no place in its ranks and urged victims and witnesses to come forward. The AFC is the largest military training establishment for under-19s in the UK, receiving all 16-year-old Army recruits.