Official Statistics

Murder, manslaughter, sexual offences and domestic abuse in the Service Justice System: 2025

Published 26 March 2026

This annual publication provides statistics on recent and non-recent criminal conduct offences, contrary to s.42 Armed Forces Act 2006, reportedly committed by Persons Subject to Service Law and Civilians Subject to Service Discipline, where primarily the corresponding offence under the Law of England and Wales is an offence contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (SOA 03) or a non-recent sexual offence (where other offences are included, this is annotated within the Table notes). From 31 March 2022, this publication included statistics on criminal conduct offences alleging murder, manslaughter and Indecent Images of Children. From 31 March 2023, this publication includes statistics on criminal conduct offences involving domestic abuse.

A non-recent sexual offence is an offence that is reported to have occurred prior to the implementation of the 2003 Sexual Offences Act and is reported within this reporting year. These were previously referred to as “historic”.

Cases included in these statistics were either reported to the Service Police, referred to the Director of Service Prosecutions (DSP) or resulted in Court Martial proceedings concluded between 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025.

The latest Armed Forces Personnel figures for each Service should be taken into consideration when making comparisons as there are more personnel in the Army compared to the Royal Navy (RN), the Royal Marines (RM) or the Royal Air Force (RAF).

1. Key Points and Trends for Sexual Offences

During 2025, the Service Police initiated a total of 406 investigations into sexual offences contrary to the SOA 03 and non-recent offences; 399 were into offences contrary to the SOA 03 and seven were investigations into non-recent offences. This represents a total increase of 58 investigations contrary to the SOA 03 for 2025 compared to 2024 and a decrease of nine non-recent investigations from 2024.

• Of those 406 investigations, 167 were still under investigation at the time of data extraction and 239 were concluded. Of the concluded investigations 133 (56%) were referred to the DSP by the service police and 106 (44%) did not lead to a referral. This represents an increase of four cases that resulted in a referral, a decrease of 24 cases that were not referred and an increase of 69 cases still under investigation at the time of the data extraction compared to the 2024 figures.

• The 399 investigations into SOA 03 offences involved 414 suspects (375 male, 22 female and 17 unidentified suspects or suspects with an unknown gender) and 423 victims (98 male, 318 female and seven unknown).

During 2025, the Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA) received 187 case referrals, regarding sexual offences, from the Service Police.

In 2025, 190 cases were completed by the SPA, which includes cases referred within 2025 or from previous years. 81 cases had charges directed contrary to SOA 03 and non-recent sexual offences, and there were 58 cases where there was no Realistic Prospect of Conviction (RPOC)/ Public Service Interest (PSI) and therefore they were not directed for charge. 35 cases were charged with an alternative offence, and 16 were referred to the Commanding Officer (CO). Cases referred to the CO are cases where the SPA has made a decision not to charge and referred the case to the CO for consideration using their initial powers.

Between 01 January 2025 and 31 December 2025, 107 defendants appeared before the Court Martial for sexual offences, indecent images of children (IIOC) offences and domestic abuse related offences. Of those 107 defendants, 60 (56 %) were convicted of those offences.  101 defendants faced a total of 189 charges for sexual offences and indecent images of children offences. Of these 189 charges, 118 (62 %) resulted in guilty verdicts and 71 (38 %) resulted in not guilty verdicts.

Please note where a defendant has been arraigned on charges within multiple offence categories, the individual will be recorded more than once. When instances of double counting are removed, there were a total of 91 defendants. Arraignment is the formal process of putting the charge(s) to the defendant in open court. During this hearing, the defendant is asked to plead guilty or not guilty to each individual charge.

2. Key Points and Trends for Murder and Manslaughter

During 2025 the Service Police initiated one investigation into murder, and no investigations into manslaughter or attempted murder or manslaughter.

The Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA) received no case referrals from the Service Police for murder, and one referral for manslaughter in 2025. 

No murder or manslaughter cases were heard at Court Martial in 2025.

Point of Contact: Service Police Policy

Further information: People-CEJ-SJDC@modgovuk.onmicrosoft.com

Background Quality Report: Background Quality Report

Would you like to be added to our contact list?, so that we can inform you about updates to these statistics? You can subscribe to updates by emailing Analysis-Publications@mod.gov.uk

Please refer to the Supplementary tables containing all data presented in this publication.

3. Introduction

These statistics provide information on offences contrary to s.42 of the Armed Forces Act 2006, reportedly committed by Persons Subject to Service Law or Civilians Subject to Service Discipline, where primarily the corresponding offence under the law of England and Wales is an offence contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (SOA 03) or a non-recent sexual offence. (Where other offences are included, this is annotated within the Table notes). From 31 March 2022, these statistics have also provided information on criminal conduct offences of murder, manslaughter and Indecent Images of Children. The Armed Forces Act 2006 (AFA 06) provides the legislation for the SJS and this is supported by the Manual of Service Law (MSL), which provides the necessary guidance to those that are required to deliver it. The SJS is primarily delivered by Commanding Officers (COs), the Service Police (the Royal Navy Police (RNP), Royal Military Police (RMP), Royal Air Force Police (RAFP), and the Defence Serious Crime Command (DSCC)), the Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA) and the Military Court Service (MCS).

The Defence Serious Crime Command (DSCC) (of which the Defence Serious Crime Unit (DSCU) is the subordinate Unit), became operational on 5 December 2022 and takes primacy investigating all serious crime in Defence. Where other Single Service Police Forces are required to investigate, it is often owing to unique operational circumstances and reporting procedures. In these instances, consultation by DSCU is always provided and investigations will transfer to DSCU when appropriate to do so.

Statistics are also provided for service and/or criminal conduct offences involving domestic abuse. A domestic abuse investigation is identified and flagged by the Service Police in accordance with the definition contained in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and where a suspect and victim are in, or have ever been in, an intimate or familial relationship. The SPA and MCS figures for offences of domestic abuse also relate to the definition contained in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and domestic abuse cases have been identified and flagged, as per Crown Prosecution Service practice. All domestic abuse figures may duplicate figures from another offence category.

The Service Police will refer a case to the SPA once the Evidential Sufficiency Test (EST) has been met (as detailed in Section 116 of the AFA 06). The main role of the SPA is to review cases referred to it by the Service Police and the Chain of Command and apply the Full Code Test contained in the Code for Crown Prosecutors, to provide advice to the Service Police on investigations, and to prosecute appropriate cases at the Court Martial and other Service courts.

Offences contrary to the SOA 03, non-recent sexual offences, murder and manslaughter cannot be heard summarily by a CO. These must be referred by the Service Police to the SPA for a decision to prosecute or not, applying the Full Code Test (is there a realistic prospect of conviction and is it in the public (including the Service) interest to prosecute).

The procedure in the Court Martial mirrors the civilian Crown Court in England and Wales and cases are heard by a Judge Advocate appointed by the Judge Advocate General and a Board (jury equivalent) of three or six, comprising of officers, warrant officers and OR7s. From 1 January 2023 the law requires at least one man and one woman member to sit on every Court Martial Board.

Judge Advocates are independent civilian judges, administered by the Ministry of Justice and selected through the Judicial Appointments Commission in the same way as all civilian judges. All Judge Advocates sit both in the Court Martial and the Crown Court. The Judge Advocate General is a Circuit Judge.

The Court Martial can impose the majority of sentences available to the Crown Court up to and including imprisonment for life, as well as a range of specific Service punishments including Service detention at the Military Corrective Training Centre.

Further background about the Service Justice System and its workings can be found in the background quality report.

The AFA 06 can be found at: Armed Forces Act 2006

The MSL can be found at: Manual of Service Law

The Armed Forces (Court Martial) Rules 2009 can be found at: Armed Forces (Court Martial) Rules 2009

4. Service Police Investigations Into Sexual Offences

Between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025, the Service Police initiated a total of 406 investigations into sexual offences contrary to the SOA 03 and non-recent sexual offences. 399 were into offences contrary to the SOA 03 and seven were investigations into non-recent sexual offences. The total number has fluctuated compared to 2023 and 2024 (284 and 357 investigations respectively). Investigations that were transferred to Civilian Police Forces or Host Nation equivalents, and those reported as sexual offences but then reclassified to a non-sexual offence have not been included in these statistics. Attempted offences are included where reported as such and where they are the principal crime/ offence.

There were 22 Forensic Medical Examinations (FMEs) offered to a person reporting a rape or sexual assault by penetration. Of these, 14 had an FME conducted and in eight instances FMEs were not conducted. In seven instances the victim did not support an investigation/ declined an FME, and in one case an Early Evidence Kit was utilised. Out of the cases where an FME was conducted, in one case the investigation was later transferred over to Civilian Police Forces. It should be noted that in many investigations, a FME is inappropriate and unlikely to provide any significant evidence, for example where reporting an investigation of a penetrative assault is delayed. Careful consideration is given following guidelines provided by the Faculty of Forensic & Legal Medicine and in consultation with the victim and forensic medical examiner in deciding whether such an examination is appropriate. Note a decision not to undertake a forensic medical examination does not preclude the recovery of DNA, fingerprints, fibres or marks from clothing or non-intimate examination, if there is a realistic chance that such evidence could be recovered and would be of evidential value to the investigation. 

76% of reported rape (Section 1) and sexual assault by penetration (Section 2) offences were reported outside the window for a FME. Of the 14 FME conducted, four occurred within 48 hours of the reported offence.

This forensic time window is detailed to Police Forces by the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All Victims who are within the forensic window are offered the opportunity to attend a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC).  Where a victim falls just outside the forensic window there can be communication between investigators and the SARC to determine whether an examination is appropriate. The forensic window for recovering body samples, particularly in relation to sexual assault cases, typically ranges from a few days up to a week depending on the type of sample and the circumstances, with the most optimal collection occurring within the first 24-48 hours.

The number of SOA 03 investigations in 2025 for Rape (85) increased by 30, Sexual Assault (Penetration) (18) increased by eight and Sexual assault (no penetration) (224) decreased by five compared to 2024. Investigations into Exposure (22) and voyeurism (15) both increased compared to 2024, while the number of non-recent investigations (seven) showed a decrease. Details on these numbers, as well as other offences contrary to the SOA 03 not in this list can be found in the accompanying supplementary tables.

Of the 85 rape investigations, 46% of them were reported more than 6 months after the incident reportedly occurred, and 48% of rapes reported in 2025 relate to incidents prior to 2025.

Of the total of 406 investigations (including non-recent sexual offences), 167 were still under investigation and not concluded at the time of data extraction, and 239 were concluded. Of the 239 concluded, 133 were referred to the SPA by the Service Police and 106 did not lead to a referral. There are instances when crimes are reported and investigated, however, the Evidential Sufficiency Test has not been met and therefore no referral will be made. This can include when a victim elects not to support judicial proceedings, which can result in a decision not to refer. These decisions are not made in isolation by the Service Police, but in consultation with the SPA. Regardless of the outcome of any investigation, victims remain supported throughout.

4.1 Figure 1: Outcomes of Service Police Investigations reported in 2025

Figure 1 presents the outcomes of Service Police Investigations reported in 2025, breaking the figures down by whether the investigation was referred, not referred or not concluded at the time of data extract, and by offence. These numbers can be found in the supplementary tables as Table 3.

Comparisons with 2024 show that the number of investigations with a referral has increased by four cases, and the number not referred has decreased by 24 cases.  The number of ongoing investigations at the time of data extraction has increased by 69 since 2024. Some cases referred to the SPA may have involved more than one suspect.

Of the total 406 investigations conducted by the Service Police in 2025, 278 were investigations where the reported incident occurred in the UK, which is an increase of 39 cases compared to 2024. 32 investigations occurred in Cyprus, which is an increase of seven from 2024, and eight occurred in Germany, which shows a decrease of 10 since 2024. There were eight investigations conducted in the United States of America and seven investigations in Kenya. There was a decrease of seven investigations occurring in other countries (52 investigations) compared to 2024 and 10 investigations where the reported incident occurred at sea. See supplementary Excel tables that accompany this report for more information.

4.2 Figure 2: Percentage Of 2025 SOA 03 Suspects by Known Service

Figure 2 presents the percentage of personnel suspected of offences contrary to the SOA 03 by service. The percentages presented are 17% Royal Navy/Royal marines, 61% Army, 13% RAF and 2% civilian. This chart does not sum to 100% as 6% of suspects had an unknown service.

414 suspects were reported in investigations conducted by the Service Police in 2025. This figure does not include non-recent offences. Of these suspects, 375 were male, 22 were female and there were 17 instances where the gender was unknown. By Service, 72 suspects were from the Royal Navy/Royal Marines, 254 were from the Army, 53 were from the RAF, there were 10 civilians and there were 25 instances where the Service was unknown.

4.3 Figure 3: Percentage Of 2025 SOA 03 Victims by Known Service

Figure 3 presents the percentage of victims of offences contrary to the SOA 03 by service. The percentages presented are 17% Royal Navy/Royal marines, 49% Army, 12% RAF and 20% civilian and foreign forces. This chart does not sum to 100% as 1% of victims had an unknown service.

423 victims were recorded in investigations conducted by the Service Police in 2025. This figure does not include non-recent offences. By Service, 73 were from the Royal Navy/Royal Marines, 209 were recorded as being from the Army, 52 were from the RAF, 83 were civilians, three were from other Forces and three were unrecorded or unknown. Further breakdowns by age and rank, together with comparisons to the 2023 and 2024 figures, can be found for both Suspects and Victims in the supplementary Excel tables that accompany this report.

The seven non-recent Sexual Offences that were investigated in 2025 consisted of seven suspects and seven victims. We are unable to provide further details of the breakdown by gender or service for suspects or victims, as this would result in suppressed values being able to be calculated. All suspects were either male, or had an unknown gender, who were either in the RAF or had an unknown service. All victims had a known gender, and were either part of the Army, RAF or were civilians.

5. Service Prosecuting Authority - Sexual Offences

Between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025, the Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA) received 187 case referrals from the Service Police for cases contrary to the SOA 03 and non-recent offences, a decrease of 10 cases from 2024.  In 2025 190 cases were completed by the SPA, which includes cases referred within 2025 or from previous years , and of those cases, there were eight where a victim was under 18 years old. 81 cases had charges directed contrary to SOA 03 and non-recent sexual offences. There were 58 cases where there was no Realistic Prospect of Conviction (RPOC)/ Public Service Interest (PSI) and therefore they were not directed for charge. 35 cases were charged with an alternative offence, and 16 were referred to the CO. Cases referred to the CO are cases where the SPA has made a decision not to charge and referred the case to the CO for consideration using their initial powers. No cases were transferred to the CPS in 2025.  

Further breakdowns of these figures against those for 2023 and 2024 can be found in the supplementary Excel tables that accompany this report.

Two child sex cases (involving offences contrary to s14 and s15A of SOA 03) were referred to the SPA by the DSCC in 2025. Charges were brought against one case contrary to s15A of SOA 03.

Table 24 statistics in the accompanying supplementary tables represent the number of cases referred and table 25 details the statistics for all outcomes of cases resolved by the SPA between 01 January 2025 and 31 December 2025. It must be noted that reporting of SPA outcomes has changed. For previous years data, outcomes were only recorded for cases which were referred in the same year. A case referred to the SPA may relate to multiple suspected offences and accused. The statistics associate cases with the most serious (principal) offence that was referred. This means that in cases where, for example, it is reported that a case was charged, the principal offence on referral may not have been charged.

6. Court Martial Results for Sexual Offences

Between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025, there were 107 defendants whose Court Martial proceedings for sexual offences and/or indecent images of children offences and/or domestic abuse were concluded. Of these, 60 (56 %) were convicted. 101 defendants faced a total of 189 sexual offence charges (including charges relating to non-recent sexual offences and IIOC). Of these charges, 118 (62 %) resulted in guilty verdicts in respect of the charge.

The number of defendants for sexual offence charges (including those relating to non-recent offences and IIOC) has increased by 26 and there was an increase of 52 charges from 2024. Further breakdowns and comparisons are presented in the supplementary tables that accompany this report.

Please note where a defendant has been arraigned on charges within multiple offence categories, the individual will be recorded more than once. When instances of double counting are removed, there were a total of 91 defendants. Arraignment is the formal process of putting the charge(s) to the defendant in open court. During this hearing, the defendant is asked to plead guilty or not guilty to each individual charge.

Of the 189 charges heard by the Court Martial in 2025, the Royal Navy/Royal Marines accounted for 32 charges, of these charges 21 resulted in guilty verdicts and 11 resulted in not guilty verdicts. The Army accounted for 129 charges, of these charges 79 resulted in guilty verdicts and 50 resulted in not guilty verdicts. The RAF accounted for 28 charges, of these charges 18 resulted in guilty verdicts and 10 resulted in not guilty verdicts.

Caution must be exercised when attempting to compare conviction rates from Court Martials in the Service Justice System with those in the Crown Court in the Civilian Criminal Justice System. It is not possible to produce reliable comparisons for a number of reasons outlined below, and these statistics should not be used to do so.

There are distinct differences between the two systems, for example the volume of cases, populations, the difference in profile, and the way the data is recorded and reported. These differences may impact the outcomes of investigations and trials. For example, differences in the rates of victim withdrawal from investigations and prosecution processes may impact the proportion of cases taken to trial, and therefore proportion of outcomes at trial. In addition, some data released by the Crown Prosecution Service reports on convictions in respect of rape-flagged cases, i.e. any case where a rape may have occurred even if it is not charged or convicted as a rape offence. This differs from this report, which provides data on the convictions for actual rape offences by defendant and by charge.

7. Indecent Images of Children

There were 12 investigations into 12 suspects regarding indecent images of children. Of those, eight were cases of suspected possession of an indecent or pseudo indecent image of a child. Of these investigations, six resulted in no referral being made, and six remained under investigation at the time of data extraction. There could be more than one victim per case, no identifiable victim, or may relate to a pseudo image. In these 12 investigations, three victims were recorded as either male or female and nine had an unknown gender. Three of the victims were civilian and in nine cases the service of the victim was unknown.  Of the investigations, four related to suspects in the Army, four were civilians. The remaining cases involve suspects from either the Royal Navy/Royal Marines, the RAF or the service of the suspect was unknown.

A pseudo-photograph is an image made by computer-graphics or otherwise which appears to be a photograph. This can include photographs, videos, tracings and derivatives of a photograph or data that can be converted into a photograph. These investigations may therefore have no identifiable victim(s) or victim(s).

8. Service Prosecuting Authority – Indecent Images of Children

Between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025, the Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA) received nine case referrals from the Service Police, an increase of one case compared to 2024. During 2025, the SPA completed 10 cases of Indecent Images of Children. Of those completed cases, the SPA brought charges in six cases and there were three cases with no Realistic Prospect of Conviction/ Public Service Interest and therefore no changes were brought. One case was referred to the CO.

9. Court Martial Results for Indecent Images of Children

Of the 27 charges heard by the Court Martial in 2025, the Army accounted for 22 charges, of which 21 resulted in guilty verdicts, and one not guilty verdict. The Royal Navy accounted for five charges, all five of which resulted in guilty verdicts. The RAF accounted for no charges of Indecent Images of Children.

10. Domestic Abuse

There were 156 investigations of 159 suspects regarding domestic abuse. Of those investigations, 106 (68 %) related to suspected violent offending, 34 (22%) related to sexual offending, and seven (4%) related to controlling and coercive behaviour. The remainder of cases include a range of suspected offences including theft (three), harassment and stalking (two) and other offences (four). Of the total domestic abuse cases, 40 were referred, 49 were not referred and 67 were still under investigation at the time of data extraction.  

There were 159 reported suspects relating to domestic abuse investigations, of which 143 were male and 16 were female. There were 21 suspects from the Royal Navy/ Royal Marines, 106 in the Army, 26 in the RAF and six were civilian. There may be more than one suspect per case.

There were 168 reported victims, 140 of whom were female, 27 were male and one was unknown. 16 victims were in the Royal Navy/Royal Marines, 39 in the Army, 16 in the RAF and 97 were civilians. There may be more than one victim per case.

11. Service Prosecuting Authority – Domestic Abuse

Between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025, the Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA) received 24 case referrals from the Service Police that were flagged as domestic abuse Throughout 2025, 31 cases with a domestic abuse flag were completed by the SPA, of which charges were directed in seven cases, and 21 cases were not directed as the cases had no realistic prospect of conviction/ public service interest. Three cases were referred to the CO.

12. Court Martial Results for Domestic Abuse

Between 01 January 2025 and 31 December 2025, six defendants were tried before the Court Martial for cases identified as domestic abuse. Of those defendants, three (50 %) were convicted and three (50 %) were acquitted. 

13. Murder and Manslaughter Investigations by Service Police

Between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025, the Service Police initiated one investigation into murder and no investigations into manslaughter. The investigation into murder had no suspects or victims identified or recorded. The case was not referred.

14. Service Prosecuting Authority – Murder and Manslaughter

Between 01 January 2025 and 31 December 2025, the SPA received no case referrals from the Service Police for murder and one referral for manslaughter. The SPA completed one case of manslaughter, where the case was referred to CO.

15. Further Information

15.1 Disclosure control

Figures which could lead to the inadvertent identification of a victim or suspect of an offence contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 have been suppressed and summarised as “fewer than three” cases. Some figures greater than 3 have been suppressed so these figures cannot be calculated.

15.2 Revisions

Corrections to the published statistics will be made if errors are found, or if figures change because of improvements to methodology or changes to definitions. When making corrections, we will follow the Ministry of Defence Statistics, revisions and corrections policy. All corrected figures will be identified by the symbol “r”, and an explanation will be given of the reason for and size of the revision. Corrections which would have a significant impact on the utility of the statistics will be corrected as soon as possible, by reissuing the publication. Minor errors will also be corrected, but for convenience these corrections may be timed to coincide with the next release of the publication.

15.3 Contact us

Defence Statistics welcome feedback on MOD statistical products. If you have any comments or questions about this publication or about our statistics in general, you can contact us as follows:

Email: Analysis-Publications@mod.gov.uk

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Price Indices

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Naval Service Personnel Statistics

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Army Personnel Statistics

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RAF Personnel Statistics

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Tri-Service Personnel Statistics

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Civilian Personnel Statistics

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Health Information

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