Coroners and Justice Act 2009

157 Qualifying offenders: service offences

(1) In subsection (2) of section 156—

(a) a reference to a person who has been convicted by a court in the United Kingdom of an offence includes a reference to a person who has been convicted of a UK service offence;

(b) a reference to a finding by a court in the United Kingdom in relation to an offence includes a reference to a finding by a UK service court (wherever situated) in relation to a UK service offence.

(2) In subsection (3) of that section—

(a) a reference to a foreign offence includes a foreign service offence;

(b) a reference to a person who has been convicted of a foreign offence includes a reference to a person who has been found guilty of a foreign service offence in respect of any act done which was the subject of proceedings under the service law of a country outside the United Kingdom;

(c) a reference to a finding of a court exercising jurisdiction under the law in force in a country outside the United Kingdom includes a reference to a finding of—

(i) a court established under the service law of that country, or

(ii) an authority of the country who under the law of the country is empowered to review the proceedings of such a court or to try or investigate charges brought against persons subject to the service law of that country.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1) the reference to a person who has been convicted of a UK service offence includes a person in respect of whom there has been—

(a) under the Army Act 1955 (3 & 4 Eliz. 2 c. 18) or the Air Force Act 1955 (3 & 4 Eliz. 2 c. 19), the recording of a finding that a charge in respect of the offence has been proved;

(b) under the Naval Discipline Act 1957 (c. 53), a determination that a charge in respect of the offence has been proved, and the recording of a finding of guilt;

(c) under the Armed Forces Act 2006 (c. 52), the recording of a finding that a charge in respect of the offence has been proved;

(d) a substitution, by the Summary Appeal Court established under any of the Acts mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (c), of a finding that a charge in respect of the offence has been proved;

(e) a substitution by the Courts-Martial Appeal Court or the Court Martial Appeal Court of a finding of guilty of the offence.

(4) In this section—

• “foreign service offence” means an act which—

  (a)

  was the subject of proceedings under the service law of a country outside the United Kingdom,

  (b)

  at the time it was done, would have constituted an offence, or a UK service offence, if it had been done in any part of the United Kingdom by a member of Her Majesty’s forces, and

  (c)

  would constitute an offence or a UK service offence if it were done in any part of the United Kingdom by a member of Her Majesty’s forces at the time the application for an exploitation proceeds order is made in respect of it;

• “Her Majesty’s forces” has the same meaning as in the Armed Forces Act 2006;

• “service law”, in relation to a country outside the United Kingdom, means the law governing all or any of the naval, military or air forces of that country;

• “UK service offence” means an offence triable by a UK service court;

and a reference to the doing of an act includes a reference to a failure to act.