Four women have told the BBC that they were raped, sexually assaulted or harassed while attending the Army Foundation College (AFC) in Harrogate, northern England.
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According to their accounts, the abuse occurred when they were 17 years old. The women described the college as an institution rife with misogynistic attitudes, sexual harassment and a lack of protection for victims.
Tilly, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, said she was raped by several young soldiers in an incident that, according to her account, lasted several hours. She reported the case to the police, but no one was charged. She later reached a financial settlement with North Yorkshire Police, without the authorities admitting liability.
“They said to me, ‘Do you want to come into the room?’ I was a naive 17-year-old girl. They started doing things I had not consented to. There were a lot of them. Then I was raped by several young soldiers, the same age as me. This went on for hours. I could not stay there any longer. I spoke to my mother, and she told me I had to leave,” she said.
Three other women said they had experienced sexual assault, repeated harassment and abusive behaviour by recruits, while according to them, some instructors also contributed to this climate. They allege that college staff tolerated and even encouraged a sexist culture, accompanied by degrading comments about girls and inappropriate behaviour in the dormitories.
Monica said that a soldier had locked her in a room and sexually assaulted her.
“He positioned himself by the door so that I could not get out. Then he pressed himself against me from behind and sexually assaulted me,” she said.
Monica left the college for a medical reason unrelated to the assault, but said her discharge came as a relief after what she had been through.
The account concerning the third woman was given by her mother, Cheryl. She said her daughter, Amy, had been sexually assaulted and experienced sexual harassment almost every day during training.
Cheryl said that because the lock on Amy’s room did not work, her daughter “found herself sleeping against the other side of the door to prevent male soldiers from entering.”
The fourth woman, Ellie, told the BBC about the impact she said the misogynistic attitudes and behaviour of AFC staff had on some of the male teenagers. She said she was sexually assaulted and harassed at the college.
During her first week at the institution, Ellie said instructors rated the girls’ appearance on a scale of up to 10. According to her, they also entered the girls’ dormitories without knocking and at any time.
Data obtained by the BBC show that in the past year alone, up to June, North Yorkshire Police received 16 reports of sexual offences linked to the college. Meanwhile, statistics from the British Ministry of Defence show that 176 complaints of inappropriate sexual behaviour were recorded at the AFC between January 2018 and June 2025. Of these, 32 concerned permanent staff members and 144 involved young soldiers.
The British Army described the allegations as “extremely serious and concerning,” stressing that criminal behaviour has no place in the Armed Forces. Military authorities urged anyone who has experienced or witnessed abuse to report it, while saying that reforms have been introduced to support victims and strengthen independent investigations.
The case has also prompted political reactions in the United Kingdom. Labour MP Emma Lewell called for an urgent independent investigation into the culture within the college. She argued that if similar allegations were made against another institution responsible for caring for minors, it would be shut down or subjected to an in-depth investigation.
