The deputy mayor for policing, fire and crime at the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority has said she backs calls for an independent inquiry into the Army Foundation College (AFC) in Harrogate, following a BBC investigation into allegations of rape and sexual abuse against former recruits.
In a statement, Jo Coles said: “The accounts reported by the BBC this week regarding the experiences of former Army Foundation College recruits in Harrogate are incredibly upsetting. My thoughts are with the women who have shared their experiences as well as with any victims who may not have felt able to speak out.”
She said she would support any review or action that helped organisations improve their safeguarding, and confirmed she would continue to hold North Yorkshire Police to account over its handling of related allegations, which she said “must always be investigated thoroughly, professionally and with sensitivity.”
Coles said she also shared Parliamentary Defence Committee member Emma Lewell MP’s view that there is a pressing need for an independent inquiry into the college “so that there are wider assurances that lessons have been learned and that young people are being kept safe”.
Coles’s statement follows BBC reports in which four young women told the news organisation they were sexually assaulted or harassed while attending AFC — the Army’s training college that receives all of its 16-year-old recruits — over the past five years. All were 17 at the time.
The BBC reported that one woman, given the pseudonym Tilly to protect her identity, said she was raped by several fellow junior soldiers in an assault that lasted hours.
“I felt like a piece of meat,” she told the BBC. She said she left the Army two weeks later and that a subsequent police investigation was later described by the Crown Prosecution Service as “entirely inadequate”; no charges were brought, and she reached a financial settlement with North Yorkshire Police, which made no admission of liability.
A second woman told the BBC a fellow soldier trapped her in a room and sexually assaulted her before she managed to push him off. A third woman’s account was relayed by her mother, who said her daughter was sexually assaulted and had to navigate almost daily sexual harassment during her training, and had taken to sleeping across her own door after its lock broke, to stop male soldiers entering.
And a fourth woman described a culture in which instructors made explicitly sexist comments about female recruits in front of other trainees and rated their appearance out of ten.
The BBC also reported, via a Freedom of Information request, that North Yorkshire Police received 16 reports of sexual offences linked to the college in the year to June, including allegations of exposure, voyeurism and sexual assault, with no information provided on whether any led to prosecutions.
Ministry of Defence data obtained by the BBC showed 176 complaints of inappropriate sexual behaviour at the college between January 2018 and June 2025 — 32 against permanent staff and 144 against junior soldiers.
AFC is the largest military training establishment for under-19s in the UK and currently has 70 female junior soldiers among its 889 recruits.
Wider concerns
The allegations sit within wider, longer-running concerns about the treatment of women in the armed forces. A 2021 review led by former Wrexham MP Sarah Atherton — who told the BBC public confidence in the college could “only be restored through an independent inquiry” — found evidence of rape, sexual exploitation of under-18s and women being drugged before assault, concluding women had been “denied justice” by a “woefully inadequate” complaints process.
Separately, an ex-army sergeant major was jailed last year for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old soldier, Gunner Jaysley Beck, who was not a student at AFC; an inquest found the Army’s failure to act appropriately after the assault “more than minimally” contributed to her later taking her own life.
Labour MP Emma Lewell, who sits on the Defence Committee, told the BBC that “as a matter of urgency there should be an independent inquiry into the college led by someone with significant safeguarding experience.”
Two Liberal Democrat MPs — Tom Gordon, who represents Harrogate and Knaresborough, and James MacCleary, the party’s defence spokesman — have written jointly to Defence Secretary Wes Streeting calling for an independent inquiry into the college’s “culture, leadership and safeguarding practices.”
The Child Rights International Network, a human rights organisation which said it had been involved in documenting allegations at the college, said the case for an independent inquiry was “urgent and essential.”
Children’s Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza said she would ensure the “appalling attacks” were investigated and “those responsible, including for failing to safeguard these girls, are held to account,” adding that she would make sure all girls at AFC could contact her team for support.
An Army spokesperson said: “Unacceptable and criminal behaviour has absolutely no place in our Armed Forces. People join in the hope of having a fantastic career and any such reports are unacceptable and go completely against everything the Army stands for.”
The Army said: “We encourage anyone who has experienced or witnessed unacceptable or criminal behaviour at the Army Foundation College to come forward.” Acknowledging that this can be difficult, it pointed to reforms including the Defence Serious Crime Command, which it said now provides specialist support through the justice process, outside the Army chain of command.
Separately, the Ministry of Defence told the BBC that AFC “welcomes external scrutiny and challenge,” noting the college had in the past year hosted safeguarding bodies, parliamentarians, the Children’s Commissioner’s office and the Armed Forces Commissioner, as well as receiving an outstanding report from Ofsted.
The Army also told the BBC that a January 2026 visit by the Children’s Commissioner’s office and safeguarding authorities had recognised “the culture of care and the confidence junior soldiers have in raising concerns,” and separately said the college’s “robust discipline system” had been graded “outstanding” by Ofsted, which inspects the college every three years.
“Too much trouble”
An internal MoD report into army training establishments, reported on by the BBC earlier this year, found the chain of command “still have some way to go before an inclusive culture trickles down to the lowest levels,” adding that “some female trainees reported ‘not being wanted’ due to females being deemed to be ‘too much trouble’,” with particular concern that younger female trainees lacked confidence to report unacceptable behaviour.
A separate MoD report last year found 67% of women in the armed forces had experienced at least one form of sexualised behaviour in the previous 12 months, compared with 34% of men.
The Army said AFC remains committed to creating a professional, supportive and safe environment for all recruits, adding: “Any suggestion otherwise contradicts the values of respect and inclusivity that we stand for.”
Jo Coles said her focus would “remain on the victims, ensuring they are heard, supported and able to access the services they need.” Anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse can access support through Supporting Victims at www.supportingvictims.org.
