US military never told UK police of airman's drink-driving
1950s agreement gives British police primary jurisdiction over off-duty offences, second offence a year later reached a British court
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The failure to notify British police broke a longstanding formal agreement. Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images
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The airman was working at the USAF base at Mildenhall, Suffolk. Photograph: High Level/Shutterstock
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USAF aircraft at RAF Mildenhall. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA
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The US military failed to notify British police after an American airman was accused of drink-driving in Suffolk, preventing UK authorities from investigating the offence and breaking a formal agreement in force since the 1950s, the Guardian reports.
Christopher Mooty, then a 21-year-old airman at the USAF base at Mildenhall, went on a night out in Newmarket in March 2023, drinking beer and vodka Red Bulls across two pubs before driving friends to a kebab shop at around 4am. A British woman he had been seeing — who told his superiors he was 'the most drunk I've ever seen him' and that he was 'endangering the lives of the people in this country' — reported him to the base. Suffolk police say they were never informed of the incident. Mooty's commanders handled the matter through their own processes; a military judge convicted him of being drunk in charge of a vehicle, sentencing him to 20 days of hard labour and a demotion.
Under the longstanding agreement, British police hold primary responsibility for investigating alleged wrongdoing by US military personnel in Britain — unless the offence occurred on duty, against another US service member, or against US property. The notification failure meant the case never came near a British court. A year later, Mooty committed a second drink-driving offence; that one was prosecuted in a British court.
The disclosures form part of a broader Guardian investigation into crimes committed by American military personnel stationed in Britain. The series has already prompted the UK government and police chiefs to establish a high-level inquiry into whether US personnel stationed in the country are being brought to justice properly.
The arrangement leaves tens of thousands of American service members on European soil answerable to their own chain of command first, with the host nation informed at whatever point the Americans choose. Suffolk police say they understood the 2023 incident had been 'investigated and dealt with' — by the airman's own commanders, in their own courtroom, with no British officer ever told a crime was alleged.