Air Force Act 1955

37 Desertion

(1) Any person subject to air-force law who—

(a) deserts, or

(b) persuades or procures any person subject to air-force law to desert,

shall, on conviction by court-martial, be liable to imprisonment or any less punishment provided by this Act:

Provided that a person shall not be liable to be imprisoned for more than two years unless—

(i) if the offence was against paragraph (a) of this subsection, he was on active service or under orders for active service at the time when it was committed,

(ii) if the offence was an offence against paragraph (b) of this subsection, the person in relation to whom it was committed was on active service or under orders for active service at that time.

(2) For the purposes of this Act a person deserts who—

(a) leaves Her Majesty's service or, when it is his duty to do so, fails to join or rejoin Her Majesty's service, with (in either case) the intention, subsisting at the time of the leaving or failure or formed thereafter, of remaining permanently absent from his duty, or

(b) being an officer enlists in or enters any of Her Majesty's forces without having resigned his commission, or being a warrant officer, non-commissioned officer or airman enlists in or enters any of Her Majesty's forces without having been discharged from his previous enlistment, or

(c) absents himself without leave with intent to avoid serving at any place overseas or to avoid service or any particular service when before the enemy,

and references in this Act to desertion shall be construed accordingly.

(3) In addition to or in lieu of any punishment authorised by subsection (1) of this section, the court-martial by whom a warrant officer, non-commissioned officer or airman of the regular air force is convicted of desertion may direct that the whole or any part of his service previous to the period as respects which he is convicted of having been a deserter shall be forfeited:

Provided that this subsection shall not apply to a person enlisted in pursuance of the National Service Act, 1948.