The US military failed to notify British police of an allegation that one of its airmen had been drink-driving in Suffolk, preventing the British authorities from being able to investigate the offence. The failure broke a longstanding formal agreement with British police that enables the UK to investigate alleged illegality by US military personnel who are stationed in Britain. The airman, Christopher Mooty, had spent the night drinking with two other American service personnel in a market town before driving them to buy a kebab in the early hours of the morning.
The allegation of drink-driving was later reported to his commanders, who then used their own internal processes to discipline him. The case raises questions over how many other US military personnel based in the UK have committed crimes that have not been flagged to British police forces. Mooty went on to commit a second drink-driving offence a year later.
This time he was prosecuted in a British court. The latest disclosures are part of the Guardian’s investigation into crimes carried out by American military personnel who are based in Britain. The series prompted the UK government and police chiefs to set up a high-level inquiry in the summer to establish whether US military personnel stationed in Britain are being brought to justice properly.
In the latest case, Mooty, then a 21-year-old airman working at the huge United States Air Force (USAF) base at Mildenhall, Suffolk, went on a night out in March 2023. He met two other American airmen in a pub in Newmarket where he drank two or three bottles of beer in two hours, according to evidence heard at his disciplinary hearing. They then went to another Newmarket pub where he had two or three vodka Red Bulls over another two hours.
They took a taxi to the home of one of the men in Bury St Edmunds. But they soon decided they were hungry and at around 4am Mooty drove them in his car to a kebab shop, according to evidence at the disciplinary hearing. While he was driving, Mooty received messages from a British woman who had been in a relationship with him.
During the exchanges, the woman quickly suspected that he was drunk. Later that night, he went to her home. She said that Mooty was “the most drunk I’ve ever seen him” when he went to her house, adding: “I’m surprised he didn’t crash/get caught,” the disciplinary hearing heard.
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