Warning: This article contains sexual language and details of sexual assault
Four young women have told the BBC they were sexually assaulted and harassed at an army training college for teenagers – with one saying she was raped by several fellow junior soldiers in an attack that lasted hours.
The women all attended the Army Foundation College (AFC) at Harrogate, North Yorkshire, over the past five years and say the incidents happened when they were aged 17.
The college has a dangerous culture of misogyny and sexual violence, say the women, who are all speaking out for the first time.
These reports are “extremely distressing and serious”, said an Army spokesperson in a statement.
The BBC can also reveal that North Yorkshire Police received 16 reports of sexual offences linked to the college in the year to June, according to a Freedom of Information request.
Those reported offences include allegations of exposure, voyeurism and sexual assault. No information was provided as to whether they had led to prosecutions.
A total of 176 complaints of inappropriate sexual behaviour at the college were made between January 2018 and June 2025, according to Ministry of Defence (MoD) data.
Thirty-two allegations were against permanent staff and 144 against junior soldiers.
“Unacceptable and criminal behaviour has absolutely no place in our Armed Forces,” said the Army spokesperson.
“People join in the hope of having a fantastic career and any such reports are unacceptable and go completely against everything the Army stands for.”
AFC is the largest military training establishment for under-19s in the UK and it receives all the Army’s 16-year-old recruits. There are currently 70 female junior soldiers at the Harrogate site out of a total of 889.
We have changed all the women’s names to protect their identities.