Women ‘highly likely’ suffered unlawful harassment in Red Arrows, inquiry finds
Women would “highly likely” suffer unlawful harassment in the Red Arrows because of their sex, raising concerns the squadron was not a “safe environment” for them, an inquiry has found.
Predatory and other forms of unacceptable behaviour by male members of the team was widespread and “normalised”, with women viewed as the “property” of an individual or the squadron, according to the devastating findings that were published on Wednesday.
Unacceptable behaviour was so prevalent that servicewomen would club together in “shark watch” mode on social events to try to protect each other from drunken, unwanted advances.
There was also a “bystander culture” on the squadron – all the way up the chain of command – meaning bad behaviour went “unchecked”, the report said.
File pic
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, the head of the Royal Air Force, said he was “appalled” at what had been uncovered by the non-statutory inquiry into unacceptable behaviour on the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, better known as the Red Arrows.
He offered his “unreserved apologies” to those who suffered during a period that spanned from 2017 until 2021, in particular three women who he said had raised the alarm to the previous chief of the air staff two years ago.
Two Red Arrows pilots have already been sacked because of their actions.
A further nine personnel have faced varying forms of administrative action, including over what was described as “command, leadership and management” failings, the RAF revealed.
Separate to the inquiry, it emerged a person “associated with the Red Arrows” was convicted of battery in a court martial over smacking the bottom of a female colleague.
That incident happened in 2020, according to an RAF spokesperson.
Some of the key findings
Offering details about the biggest scandal to engulf the Red Arrows in its more than 60-year history, the inquiry found:
• Two incidents of “exposure of genitals”, but noted a “lack of offence… which suggests exposure of genitals and nakedness is normalised in a military environment”
• Several extramarital relationships, between a senior married individual and someone more junior, including those that impacted operational effectiveness and safety
• An alcohol-focused culture, with unacceptable behaviour often linked to booze and alcohol consumption also raising flight safety concerns
• Incidents of bullying
Head of RAF – ‘I am sorry’
Presenting the findings in a 76-page report, Air Chief Marshal Knighton said: “I am sorry and offer my unreserved apologies to any individuals that were subjected to unacceptable behaviours during their association with the Red Arrows, particularly the three women who felt they had no option but to raise their complaints directly with my predecessor.”
Much of the details collected in the inquiry, which heard evidence from more than 40 witnesses, were redacted.
However, the air chief, who had read the unredacted version, condemned the behaviours that were described, without giving details to protect the identities of the complainants.
He said: “I was appalled when I read the investigations’ findings. The behaviour of a minority of individuals has harmed the squadron’s reputation and that of the Royal Air Force… I am intent on rebuilding public trust in one of our highest profile units.”
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, the head of the Royal Air Force. Pic: gov.uk
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The Red Arrows squadron comprises around 110 personnel, including pilots and ground crew.
The crisis around what has been described as a “toxic culture” meant – given the sacking of two pilots – that the team has not been operating with the “Diamond Nine” formation of nine Hawk aircraft since 2022. It went down to seven jets, then rebounded to eight this season and is only set to return to nine in 2024.
Despite the damning findings, Air Chief Marshal Knighton said he had not considered disbanding the Red Arrows.
Inquiry recommendations
The inquiry recommended a number of moves, such as focus groups to help change the culture, which the head of the air force said had been accepted and in many places implemented already.
The lack of clarity over the sanctions and the fact that only two pilots were sacked will raise criticism from those impacted.
A second report, released simultaneously with the non-statutory inquiry, explored management and leadership failings by the chain of command in the Red Arrows and more senior levels within the RAF, though the names of those sanctioned were not released.
Setting out its findings, a review team that conducted the non-statutory inquiry, said it was “concerned that the Sqn [squadron] was not a safe environment for females and that it was highly likely that females would be subject to unlawful harassment because of their sex”.
Unwanted behaviour
The types of behaviours described included: Unwanted physical contact; unwanted text messages outside work hours or perceived to be of a sexual nature and unwanted comments about their appearance.
There was also “male sexual entitlement towards the females; being viewed as ‘property’ of either individuals or the Sqn”.
As to how the women on the squadron coped, the inquiry said they had “normalised” the behaviour and had even “got used to it”.
“Female SP [service personnel] naturally supported each other and reported modifying their behaviours to reduce the risk of being subject of UB [unacceptable behaviour] or ensuring that they would be believed if they needed to report an incident.”
The modifying behaviour was listed as: “Going to social situations as a group with ‘shark watch’ in operation within their cohort; limiting the amount of alcohol consumed in order to be able to respond effectively if they were subject to UB and to ensure their account would be believed and not dismissed due to consumption of alcohol; and modifying what they wear.”
The US has agreed to spare the UK from threatened trade tariffs on pharmaceutical products.
The announcement was made following months of uncertainty over whether exports from the UK, and elsewhere across Europe, would be subject to steep charges.
Via the policy update, the UK has become the only country in the world to secure a zero per cent tariff on pharmaceuticals exported to the US. Tariffs are taxes imposed on imports into a country.
In return, the UK has agreed to increase the baseline threshold used to assess if medicines can be used by the NHS.
Money latest: The earners most affected by £2k salary sacrifice cap
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) will increase the base threshold by 25%: from £20,000-£30,000 to £25,000-£35,000.
It means NICE will be able to approve medicines that deliver significant health improvements but might have been declined purely on cost-effectiveness grounds, the government said.
This could include breakthrough cancer treatments, therapies for rare diseases, and innovative approaches to conditions that have long been difficult to treat, it added.
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Many items require rare earth materials for manufacture and China has an abundance.
This will give NICE the opportunity to approve more new medicines and allow a greater number of patients to benefit from them, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) said.
It pointed out that NICE’s baseline cost-effectiveness threshold has not been increased for over 20 years.
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A US government statement said the UK will “reverse the decade-long trend of declining National Health Service (NHS) expenditures on innovative, life-saving medicines, and increase the net price it pays for new medicines by 25%”.
US trade representative Jamieson Greer said the US “will work to ensure that UK citizens have access to latest pharmaceutical breakthroughs”.
The background
US President Donald Trump has long complained that Europe does not pay enough for US drugs.
America and the UK agreed in May to seek a deal on the proviso that firms secured a better operating environment in Britain.
Criticism includes the concern that firms lose out on revenue due to a pricing regime which prioritises low costs for the NHS over incentives to invest.
In October, the science minister Patrick Vallance told MPs, as talks with the US continued, that many drugs available in the UK would see an “inevitable” price increase.
The family of a father-of-four who died on holiday in Benidorm say new evidence has further convinced them that foul play was involved in his death.
Nathan Osman, 30, from Pontypridd in South Wales, was on a long weekend break with friends in Benidorm in September 2024.
Less than 24 hours after he arrived, his body was found by an off-duty police officer at the bottom of a remote 650ft (200m) cliff on the outskirts of the resort.
He died from head and abdominal injuries after falling from height, a post-mortem found.
Local police said it was “a tragic accident” that occurred after Nathan left his friends in Benidorm to walk back to his hotel room alone.
But his family believe the investigation into his death has not been adequate, and that the local authorities have never considered the possibility of a homicide.
Their suspicions of foul play were first provoked by the fact that the remote location where Nathan was found was in the opposite direction to the hotel, and some distance away on foot.
They began doing their own investigating, building a timeline of events drawn from sources including CCTV, witness statements and Nathan’s bank records, which they say showed attempts were made to use his bank cards the day after he died.
After presenting their findings to Spanish prosecutors as evidence that others may have been involved, the case was reopened earlier this year.
Now, the family have told Sarah-Jane Mee on The UK Tonight that new phone data they have uncovered suggests he couldn’t have reached the spot he was found on foot.
Nathan’s brother Lee, mother Elizabeth and father Jonathan speak to Sarah-Jane Mee
After getting the phone back a couple of months ago, they say they tracked Nathan’s last movements through a health app.
“There’s a breakdown inside the app of every 10 minutes – the distance, pace, measurement of pace… every detail you can think of,” Nathan’s brother, Lee Evans, tells Mee.
“His pace wasn’t consistent with a fast walk or even a sprint.”
He said it was a faster journey, despite being uphill for 40 minutes, which has convinced the family that he was in a vehicle.
Pic: Family handout
The family also went to visit the area where Nathan was found.
“We were a bit upset, but we were very pleased we went up there”, his mother, Elizabeth, says. “We could see… there’s no way he would have looked at that area and thought, ‘I’m going up here.’
“You can see straight off, there’s no clubs, there’s no hotels up there, there’s just the odd house dotted around. It was just out in the wild, there was nothing up there.”
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The family says the phone data has helped them determine that he died around half an hour after he was seen on CCTV walking towards his hotel in the early hours of the morning.
“It was really ridiculous to think that my son would’ve walked up there [the remote location where he died] at 4am in the pitch dark.”
After the family were interviewed by Mee in May, South Wales Police opened its own investigation into Nathan’s death.
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Nathan’s family speaking to Mee in May
Lee says the Welsh force has been “appalled” by the lack of evidence turned over from the local police’s investigation.
His and Nathan’s father, Jonathan, says: “No procedures were followed. Nothing was cordoned off, it wasn’t a crime scene. There’s loads of things that could’ve been taken. Tyre tracks, foot tracks, nothing. No DNA taken.”
Lee says: “All that we’ve done over the last year, this could’ve been squashed within the first week, two weeks [by local investigators].
“We’ve had to find out and keep delving into every possible outcome and overturn every stone possible. We started off with… a needle in a haystack, we had no direction or any support on which way to go.”
Nathan Osman. Pic: Family handout
What does Nathan’s family hope for now?
Nathan’s family say they have located 27 CCTV cameras which could have picked Nathan up in the area, after local investigators didn’t find any.
Elizabeth says that after alerting Spanish police to the locations, they were told that the CCTV “wouldn’t be working” or that footage would’ve already been erased.
“They just surmised everything,” she adds.
But the family, who found the last known CCTV footage of Nathan earlier this year, are convinced there is still hope.
Lee says: “There’s a number of CCTV footage in that area. We know there’s a way of finding a vehicle of some sort.”
But the family admit they may never find whoever could be responsible for Nathan’s death because so much time has been lost.
Elizabeth concludes: “Nathan walks with us every day. We all believe that,” adding that “all we want” is to find the ones responsible for his death and for him to “have the respect of a decent investigation”.
Sky News contacted Spanish police, which declined to comment, adding the case is under judicial review and it doesn’t want to hinder the course of the investigation.
South Wales Police told Sky News: “South Wales Police is carrying out enquiries on behalf of HM Coroner and a family liaison officer has been appointed to provide support.”
Watch the full interview with Sarah-Jane Mee on The UK Tonight from 8pm this evening on Sky News.
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