Congratulations to Hesham Puri who litigated this case and instructed Omar Soliman of 5 St Andrew’s Hill in the successful defence of a member of the Royal Air Force charged with sexual assault.

The case concerned allegations of an assault at RAF Brize Norton and was tried over three days at Bulford Court Martial Centre. The defence relied on section 41 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, enabling the introduction of evidence of a previous sexual relationship between the parties, which provided important context to the Defendant’s reasonable belief in consent.

Following careful and sensitive cross-examination, the six-person Board—comprised of Officers of varying ranks—returned a Not Guilty verdict after just one hour of deliberations, acquitting the Defendant of the sole charge.