Soldiers win right of appeal

Five Devon duty solicitors were the first in the country to receive training last week on the Armed Forces Discipline Act 2000, which takes effect from 2 October.

Solicitors from Bevan Ashford, Hugh James Ford Simey, Rundle Walker and Woollcombe Beer Watts attended the course at the Royal Marines' Commando Training Centre in Lympstone, run by members of the Marines' legal department.

The Act incorporates the Human Rights Act into the forces' internal discipline system, introducing a review process for soldiers held in custody similar to the requirements covering police detainees.

It also gives defendants the right of appeal in 'summary dealings' - low-level offences for which no appeal was previously available.

In preparation for the changes, a central video link to a judge-advocate is to be installed at the training centre to handle all Royal Marines cases in western England.

Nick Sanders, an ex-forces solicitor at Rundle Walker, described the Act as a 'big shake-up from the Army's point of view.' Soldiers were 'more likely to accept the consequences of their actions than criminals' and so were less likely to appeal, he said.

But he added: 'There have been instances where soldiers have been locked up for periods of up to 40 days with no right of appeal.

The Act should prevent some of the worst abuses within what was previously a closed system.'

Rowland Byass