Mike Wood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Wood on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what process the civilian police must follow when attempting to arrest, summons or charge a serving member of the armed forces in connection with indictable offences.

Mike Penning

If a member of the UK Armed Forces is arrested and detained in police custody for a recordable offence, the custody sergeant is responsible for notifying the circumstances of arrest, detention and offence to the relevant service authorities.

Civilian criminal courts and service tribunals have concurrent jurisdiction to deal with accused persons who are subject to military law. The decision on which jurisdiction prosecutes a person subject to military law is a matter of consultation between all police agencies involved in the investigation in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service and Service Prosecutions Authority.