American military commanders kept British police in the dark over claims that a US airman drove while drunk in Suffolk, The Guardian reports, in breach of a decades-old deal giving UK forces the lead on most offences by visiting personnel.
Christopher Mooty, then a 21-year-old airman at RAF Mildenhall, is said to have driven two colleagues to a kebab shop at about 4am in March 2023 after a night drinking in Newmarket. A former partner reported him to his commanders, and a US court martial later sentenced him to 20 days' hard labour and a demotion.
Suffolk police said they were never notified of the incident. The exceptions under that 1950s arrangement are offences on duty or against other service members. A year later Mooty was prosecuted in a British court for a second drink-driving offence.
Source: The Guardian
