A court-martial or court martial is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment. In addition, courts-martial may be used to try prisoners of war for war crimes. The Geneva Conventions require that POWs who are on trial for war crimes be subject to the same procedures as would be the holding military's own forces. Finally, courts-martial can be convened for other purposes, such as dealing with violations of martial law, and can involve civilian defendants.
Rolf Harris was an Australian musician, television personality, painter, and actor. He often used unusual instruments like the didgeridoo and the Stylophone in his performances, and is credited with the invention of the wobble board. He was convicted in England in 2014 of the sexual assault of four underage girls, which effectively ended his career.
Field Marshal Edwin Noel Westby Bramall, Baron Bramall, was a British Army officer. He served as Chief of the General Staff, the professional head of the British Army, between 1979 and 1982, and as Chief of the Defence Staff, professional head of the British Armed Forces, from 1982 to 1985.
Harvey Weinstein is an American former film producer and convicted sex offender.
Major-General Sir Borlase Elward Wyndham Childs was a British Army officer who also served as Assistant Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 1921 to 1928.
Michael Curtis Brewer is a convicted sex offender and former British music teacher and choral conductor. He was the founding musical director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and had been Director of Music for Chetham's School of Music in the 1980s and early 1990s. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1995, but was stripped of the honour in 2013 following his conviction on five counts of indecent assault against a girl who had been one of his pupils. He was jailed for six years.
Michael Eke is the former employee of Cambridgeshire Police who received an MBE that was later stripped following his conviction for fraud.
Robin David Peverett was a 'House parent' at Pestalozzi Children's Village before becoming a 'housemaster' at DCPS Coursehorn in 1963, and later headmaster of Dulwich College Preparatory School from circa 1967 to 1990.
Philip Edward Wilson was an Australian Roman Catholic prelate who was the eighth Archbishop of Adelaide from 2001 to 2018. He was President of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference from 2006 to 2010. From 1996 to 2001 Wilson was bishop of the Diocese of Wollongong, where he gained a reputation as a "healing bishop" for handling child-abuse scandals.
Catholic sexual abuse cases in Australia, like Catholic Church sexual abuse cases elsewhere, have involved convictions, trials and ongoing investigations into allegations of sex crimes committed by Catholic priests, members of religious orders and other personnel which have come to light in recent decades, along with the growing awareness of sexual abuse within other religious and secular institutions.
Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in Canada are well documented dating back to the 1960s. The preponderance of criminal cases with Canadian Catholic dioceses named as defendants that have surfaced since the 1980s strongly indicate that these cases were far more widespread than previously believed. While recent media reports have centred on Newfoundland dioceses, there have been reported cases—tested in court with criminal convictions—in almost all Canadian provinces. Sexual assault is the act of an individual touching another individual sexually and/or committing sexual activities forcefully and/or without the other person's consent. The phrase Catholic sexual abuse cases refers to acts of sexual abuse, typically child sexual abuse, by members of authority in the Catholic church, such as priests. Such cases have been occurring sporadically since the 11th century in Catholic churches around the world. This article summarizes some of the most notable Catholic sexual abuse cases in Canadian provinces.
Colonel Robert Alexander Stewart is a British politician and former soldier. He has been member of Parliament (MP) for Beckenham since 2010. A former member of the Conservative Party, he also is a former British Army officer and United Nations commander in Bosnia, commentator, author and public speaker.
Lawrence Nigel Jones is a British businessman and convicted rapist.
Brigadier Sir Percy Robert Laurie was a British Army and police officer.
David Russell Williams is a Canadian serial rapist, murderer and former colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He is currently serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 25 years for two murders, committed in November 2009 and January 2010.
Rape by deception is a situation in which the perpetrator deceives the victim into participating in a sexual act to which they would otherwise not have consented, had they not been deceived. Deception can occur in many forms, such as illusory perceptions, false statements, and false actions.
Jeffrey Blackett is a British former judge and Royal Navy officer with the rank of Commodore. He was Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces from 2004 to 2020 and among the cases over which he presided was that of "Marine A". Blackett was criticised by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) for sentencing Sgt Alexander Blackman RM to a life sentence for murder, as he failed to give the board the option to pass a lesser sentence of manslaughter. According to the report, the CCRC, which investigates miscarriages of justice, said Judge Blackett was guilty of a "material irregularity" in the original trial, due to an "apparent failure to recognise the position regarding manslaughter during the trial and to direct the board appropriately". Subsequently the Court Martial Appeal Court rejected any criticism of Blackett. They said: "We could see no basis for any criticism of the conduct of the Court Martial by the Judge Advocate General. He left the issues which had been raised by the prosecution and the defence during the hearing of the Court Martial to the Board in an entirely fair and proper manner." Alexander Blackman's murder conviction was eventually quashed in 2017 after a successful appeal.
Nicholas Welch, is a retrospectively dismissed British Army major general who served as the Assistant Chief of the General Staff. In March 2021 he became the highest ranked British officer to be convicted at a court martial in over 200 years.
