Recommendation 15

The fact that a person has been deployed on operations overseas is irrelevant for considering a deadline on prosecutions. Moreover, we are concerned about the potential read across to the regular application of international humanitarian law, as well as behaviours of security forces more generally. Service personnel are trained to deal with very complex situations. It is only right that due account is taken of the complexity of a combat situation as part of any decision as to whether to bring a prosecution (i.e. is there sufficient evidence that an offence has been committed, and is it in the public interest to prosecute). However, it should not be part of a statutory barrier to bringing prosecutions where they are in the public interest.