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Armed Forces Bill

I do not suggest for a moment that there is gross failure in the current system, but we do not require juries to determine sentences in the civil courts. In military courts, however, we are saying in effect that the jury determines the sentence. My experience is far less than that of the Judge Advocate General in courts martial. He is a serving naval officer. His whole legal career has been in the service. He has risen from judge advocate to Judge Advocate of Her Majesty’s Fleet to Judge Advocate General, and is highly regarded, no doubt by the services but certainly by the legal profession. His views therefore carry considerable weight. If he has drawn the conclusion, if only as a matter of form rather than of substance—to take the point made by the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Bramall—that it is right and obviously consonant with the European convention of requiring a fair trial that the sentencing process is left to the judge advocate, then I bow to him. If that is the view of a man of that experience and standing, who knows the process from the bottom up and who has no doubt prosecuted and defended and otherwise taken part many times in courts martial, I follow it. I see entirely where he is coming from. It is right that trained people should deal with their area of expertise. Surely that is the ethos of the services—trained people should use their expertise in the area for which they are trained, and should not venture into other areas.