Jesus Green, where one of the alleged sexual assaults took place, will receive new lightingKosala Bandara

Cambridge City Council has demanded a full independent inquiry regarding the “worst spate of sexual attacks in our city in recent memory”. Councillor Lewis Herbert, the Leader of Cambridge City Council, wrote to the Prime Minister expressing a lack of “confidence that the internal review announced by the government... will be sufficiently thorough and transparent.”

“We feel it will suffer from limited terms of reference and inadequate objectivity”. Five of a group of 300 Libyan soldiers who were being trained at Bassingbourn Barracks, have been charged with sexual offences which occurred at the end of October.

Ibrahim Naji El Maarfi, 20, and Mohammed Abdalsalam, 27, appeared at Cambridge Magistrates’ Court last week and admitted two counts of sexual assault. They are awaiting sentence.

Eighteen-year-old Khaled El Azibi has been charged with three counts of sexual assault linked to the same incident but has yet to enter a plea. Earlier this week, Moktar Ali Saad Mahmoud, 33, and Ibrahim Abogutila, 22, appeared in court after being charged with the rape of a man in his 20s on Christ’s Pieces. They are due to enter a plea on the 23rd January.

Since the incidents, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has suspended the programme. After pressure from both the public and Andrew Lansley, the Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire, the MoD was forced to contact the Libyan government and bring the completion date of the programme significantly forward.

The MoD, in conjunction with the Libyan government, had planned to train 2,000 soldiers in the UK. The cohort of 300 soldiers who have been staying in Cambridgeshire were the first installation of these troops.

Cameron was confronted during Prime Ministers’ Questions last week by Lansley about the lack of discipline displayed by the soldiers. The events were described as “completely unacceptable” by the Prime Minister.

Cambridge City Council, however, are not convinced that a central governmental inquiry will sufficiently answer how the soldiers were able to leave the barracks unsupervised.

Councillor Herbert said: “We urge the Prime Minister to agree to an independent inquiry. The victims of these nasty and savage attacks, and all Cambridge residents, deserve a full inquiry and a detailed public explanation of what happened.”

He emphasised the normally low crime rates in Cambridge: “[I]t is our view we were not adequately informed and prepared about the arrangements for these Libyan soldiers, and that there are lessons that need to be learnt.”

The MP for Cambridge, Julian Huppert, confirmed that his priority was “the safety of the people in Cambridge”. He emphasised that this takes precedence over the government’s “genuine commitment to offer training to Libyan troops”.

He also backed a petition led by the Cambridge Tab to install more lighting around Jesus Green, where one of the alleged attacks took place. Cambridge City Council have since agreed to install temporary streetlights in response to the petition. The temporary lighting will be replaced permanently by ‘heritage-style’ columns in the first weeks of December, in keeping with similar schemes across Cambridge.