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Armed Forces Bill

Perhaps I may raise with the noble and learned Lord the Attorney-General the much-related point regarding the additional jurisdiction of the court martial to hear and determine cases involving murder, manslaughter, rape and treason that are committed in this country. As the noble and learned Lord will know, and as we were told in our earlier debates, since the 16th and 17th centuries, those offences could be heard only in the civil courts. This Bill provides for a dramatic extension of jurisdiction to enable courts martial to deal with such cases, even if the offences are committed in this country. Who will decide whether the trial is civil or for a court martial? If a serious offence happens overseas, there are arrangements between the local jurisdiction and British forces as to which should have precedence. In this country, where there is duel jurisdiction for matters other than the serious offences to which I referred, the Queen’s Regulations set out various ways in which the choice can be made. It is usually made by the chief officer of police for the district within which the offence was committed and that is a matter of liaison between him the commanding officer. What happens now? Will the Attorney-General himself determine whether there should be a trial by court martial for a murder committed in this country, or should it be decided by the Crown Court, or will someone else decide this issue? Will it be the Director of Service Prosecutions or the Director of Public Prosecutions? The mechanism by which that choice will be made is not spelt out in the Bill and that question is very much related to the matter raised by the noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Alloway. I hope that he forgives me for speaking to his amendment in this way.