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The Royal Military Police (RMP) closed a military investigation into suspected war crimes by the SAS prematurely, according to a former detective. Alan Pughsley, the former chief constable of Kent Police, claimed that the RMP missed its “one chance” to interview key witnesses crucial to the investigation. The Independent Inquiry relating to Afghanistan called upon Pughsley to review the RMP’s earlier probes investigating murder allegations against the SAS. He discovered that the investigations were hindered by a lack of collaboration from the UK Special Forces Command as well as indecisiveness and apathy among senior officers.
The ongoing inquiry is investigating if there is credible evidence that the SAS murdered unarmed people and civilians on night raids during the Afghan conflict. The inquiry was established following a BBC Panorama report that linked one SAS squadron to 54 suspicious deaths within six months in Afghanistan. Pughsley reviewed two Royal Military Police investigations – Operation Cestro and Operation Northmoor. The latter was a “complicated, serious, and difficult” investigation that included 11 separate raids and allegations of extra-judicial killings. It began in 2014 but was shut down in 2019 without charges being brought.
Pughsley has criticised the experience level of the investigators and inadequate resources which were “not in line with the national requirements”. Major lines of inquiry were still outstanding, including a “large number of potential witnesses and forensic evidence,” implying that the investigation should not have been closed. RMP investigators were reportedly blocked by senior military figures from accessing evidence, including interviews with special forces officers. Pughsley pointed out that the lack of co-operation hindered the investigation, considering that Captain Jason Wright, the lead investigator, did not have enough experience to lead such a complex inquiry.
Tessa Gregory, a partner at Leigh Day law firm representing the bereaved Afghan families, responded to Pughsley’s testimony, stating that it “raised potential failings at almost every stage of the investigation”. She called for further investigations to identify the shortcomings and find out how the complex, multi-homicide military police investigation failed.
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