FOI 1324-2025/26- he 1952 Visiting Forces Ac

Request:

The 1952 Visiting Forces Act makes provision for dealing with offences committed by members of visiting military forces (ie naval, army and air forces) from certain foreign countries by their own military prosecutors and courts rather than UK prosecutors and courts.

My request only applies to the military service personnel of the United States of America.

I understand that under this act, the government of the United States of America in certain cases has the primary right to exercise jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute a member of the US military for an offence that is alleged to have occurred in the United Kingdom (ie asserting primacy over the UK authorities).

I understand that this right is asserted by the government of the United States of America by serving a certificate under the 1952 Visiting Forces Act. 

The operation of such certificates was, for example, evident in the case of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Mikayla Hayes who had been charged with the offence of causing death by careless driving on 26 August 2022. She was, at the relevant time, a serving airman with the United States Air Force (‘USAF’) based at RAF Lakenheath. She was driving in her vehicle after a Physical Training instruction session at the base to her home address located some 30 minutes away from the RAF base. En route, her vehicle was involved in a collision with a motor bike. She raised a preliminary argument in that she argued that the domestic criminal courts of England & Wales had no jurisdiction to try her for the offence she had been charged with. She argued that the USA authorities must try her. This point was litigated - the ruling can be found here

https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Rex-v-Hayes-final-2.pdf

Under the act, I would like to ask how many times since January 1 2018 has the government of the United States of America  served such certificates under the 1952 Visiting Forces Act on your force. 

For each occasion, I would like to ask :

1) What was the alleged offence;

2) Where did the alleged offence occur;

3) On what date did the alleged offence occur;

4) Which base or facility was the member of the US visiting force attached to or working at;

5) On what date was the certificate signed. 

Under the act, I would also like to request complete copies of each of these certificates.

Response: 

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is not held by North Yorkshire Police. 

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.