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Armed Forces Bill

I support the Minister in his argument about not extending the offences in Clauses 1 and 2 to, "““civilian subject to service discipline””." Such persons are defined in Schedule 15 to the Bill, which covers a very wide number of people. In particular, it covers persons residing or, "““staying with a person subject to service law in a designated area””," which includes families of servicemen who are posted abroad, and so on. I declare an interest as having represented Mr Martin, a 17 year-old, in the proceedings that were brought against him for murder by way of court martial. It is inappropriate, and I shall move amendments in respect of civilians being dealt with by way of a court martial. Certainly, when we are dealing with offences that are specific to those who are members of the Armed Forces, it is inappropriate that civilians should be caught by those offences. It may be that they may commit other offences in different ways and be subject to the jurisdiction of the civilian court or whatever, but they should not be brought before a court martial for disciplinary and service offences.