WOMEN who attended an army training college as teenagers were sexually assaulted and harassed, an “extremely distressing and serious” report revealed today. 

Four young women told the BBC about their experiences while attending the Army Foundation College (AFC) at Harrogate, North Yorkshire, which provides basic training to under-19s.

A woman who the BBC called Tilly said she had been raped aged 17 by fellow soldiers.

She said the attack lasted for hours and took place after she was casually invited into a soldier’s room.

“They started taking my clothes off and then this led to them doing stuff I didn’t consent to,” she said.

“There were a lot of them. They touched me in places, made inappropriate comments, calling me a thing rather than a girl.

“And then I was raped… by multiple junior soldiers, same age as me. It went on for hours. I felt like a piece of meat.”

Another woman, Monica, said she was sexually assaulted by a fellow soldier who trapped her in a room.

A third woman was allegedly sexually assaulted, subjected to sexual harassment during her training, and would sleep across the door to her room to stop male soldiers entering.

Instructors were accused of inappropriate behaviour, including marking girls’ looks out of 10 and walking into the girls’ dorms without knocking.

An army spokesperson said: “Unacceptable and criminal behaviour has absolutely no place in our Armed Forces and these reports are extremely distressing and serious.

“We encourage anyone who has experienced or witnessed unacceptable or criminal behaviour at the Army Foundation College to come forward.”

During a Commons defence select committee hearing earlier this year, Labour MP Emma Lewell said that between 2021 and 2024 there had been 122 investigations into sexual offences against under-18s at AFC – 80 involving sexual assault.

On the report’s findings, she said: “If this was anywhere else, it would have been closed down by now, or someone would have been in there looking in-depth at what is going on.”

“As a matter of urgency, there should be an independent inquiry into the college led by someone with significant safeguarding experience, and they need to be able to speak to the children there.”

A government report last year found that 67 per cent of women in the armed forces had experienced at least one sexualised behaviour in the previous 12 months, compared to 34 per cent of men.