Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

2 Rehabilitation of persons dealt with in service disciplinary proceedings

(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, for the purposes of this Act any finding that a person is guilty of an offence in respect of any act or omission which was the subject of service disciplinary proceedings shall be treated as a conviction and any punishment awarded in respect of any such finding shall be treated as a sentence.

(2) Subsection (1) above applies only where either or both of the following conditions is satisfied, that is to say—

(a) the offence in question is an offence to which this subsection applies; or

(b) the punishment awarded is a punishment to which this subsection applies.

(3) Subsection (2) above applies to any offence consisting in the commission of a civil offence and to any offence under, and any offence of attempting to commit an offence under, any of the following enactments, or any corresponding enactment previously in force—

(a) sections 30, 45, 46, 61, 62, 64 and 66 of the [1955 c. 18.] Army Act 1955 and the [1955 c. 19.] Air Force Act 1955 ; and

(b) sections 5, 30, 31, 34A, 35, 36 and 37 of the [1957 c. 53.] Naval Discipline Act 1957.

(4) Subsection (2) above applies to the following punishments—

(a) imprisonment;

(b) cashiering, discharge with ignominy or dismissal with disgrace from Her Majesty's service ;

(c) dismissal from Her Majesty's service ; and

(d) detention for a term of three months or more.

(5) In this Act, " service disciplinary proceedings " means any of the following—

(a) any proceedings under the Army Act 1955, the Air Force Act 1955, or the Naval Discipline Act 1957 whether before a court-martial or before any other court or person authorised thereunder to award a punishment in respect of any offence);

(b) any proceedings under any Act previously in force corresponding to any of the Acts mentioned in paragraph (a) above;

(c) any proceedings under any corresponding enactment or law applying to a force, other than a home force, to which section 4 of the [1933 c. 6.] Visiting Forces (British Commonwealth) Act 1933 applies or applied at the time of the proceedings, being proceedings in respect of a member of a home force who is or was at that time attached to the first-mentioned force under that section;

whether in any event those proceedings take place in Great Britain or elsewhere.