Armed Forces Act 2006

Reserve Forces Act 1996 (c. 14)

39 (1) Section 95 of that Act (offences against orders and regulations under section 4) is amended as follows.

(2) In subsection (1)—

(a) omit paragraph (b);

(b) in the words after paragraph (e), omit “triable by court-martial or summarily by a civil court”.

(3) After that subsection insert—

“(1A) A member of a reserve force (“A”) commits an offence if—

(a) a superior officer (“B”), in pursuance of orders or regulations under section 4, is acting in the execution of his office;

(b) A’s behaviour towards B is threatening or disrespectful; and

(c) A knows or has reasonable cause to believe that B is a superior officer.

(1B) For the purposes of subsection (1A)—

(a) “superior officer” has the same meaning as in the Armed Forces Act 2006;

(b) section 11(3) of that Act (meaning of “behaviour” and “threatening”) applies.

(1C) An offence under this section is triable summarily by a civil court (as well as being triable by the Court Martial).”

(4) In subsection (2)—

(a) in paragraph (a) for the words from “court-martial” to the end substitute “the Court Martial—

(i) in the case of an offence under subsection (1)(a) or (e) or (1A), to any punishment mentioned in rows 5 to 12 of the Table in section 164 of the Armed Forces Act 2006;

(ii) in the case of an offence under subsection (1)(c) or (d), to any punishment mentioned in that Table, but any sentence of imprisonment or service detention imposed in respect of the offence must not exceed 51 weeks;”;

(b) in paragraph (b)(i)—

(i) omit “, (b),”;

(ii) after “(e)” insert “or (1A)”.

(5) For subsection (3) substitute—

“(2A) For the purposes of determining the Court Martial’s powers when sentencing an offender to whom Part 2 of Schedule 3 to the Armed Forces Act 2006 applies (ex-servicemen etc) for an offence under subsection (1)(a) or (e) or (1A), subsection (2)(a)(i) has effect as if the reference to rows 5 to 12 were to rows 5 to 10.”