SAS soldier on trial for texting secret mission dead body pictures to girlfriend

An SAS soldier is being prosecuted for allegedly sending grisly images of dead bodies and prisoners to his Royal Air Force (RAF) officer partner. The images were from a classified mission in 2021. The prosecution lawyer says the images risked compromising operations.

The SAS is the British Army’s most secretive and elite unit. The location of the mission has not been disclosed. The Rupert Murdoch-owned Sun newspaper reported on 16 June:

The accused, known as Soldier A, also shared comrades’ names and locations of their secret bases.

Adding:

Police found 1,100 classified pictures and 140 sensitive videos on his personal mobile phone, which he should not have had on missions, prosecutors said.

They allegedly included pics of corpses and prisoners from a foreign mission “which was classified secret”.

Royal Navy prosecutor Edward Hannah said:

 Soldier A divulged information to her that is sensitive, including photographs of himself.

Soldier A’s girlfriend is reportedly a serving RAF officer. Hannah said:

He told her where he was and gave her information about what he was doing.

SAS case

The Sun reported:

Bulford military court heard he was serving with a “specialist unit” and was leading a “sensitive site exploitation team” responsible for seizing intelligence during or after raids.

Soldier A denies:

one charge of disclosure of information useful to the enemy and two counts of negligence of duty.

Hannah said the senior soldier had:

kept imagery while on operation which can be used to help other units.

Adding that Soldier A should have:

used his common sense to know the information was classified.

The leak could have “damaged international relations”, Hannah argued.

The special forces soldier was:

arrested in January 2022. Police seized several electronic devices from his residence and “a significant amount of operational related material” which was classified secret.

UK special forces are rarely, if ever, commented upon by the UK government. Details of where the SAS was in combat in 2021 are not known but it is apparent from the trial that there were casualties. The trial continues at Bulford court martial centre.

Featured image via the Canary