A new report into the Libyan soldiers training in Cambridgeshire was published last week by a group of civil servants. The review, ordered by the Prime Minister, has concluded that the Ministry of Defence failed to properly communicate with local councils and residents regarding the occurrences at Bassingbourn barracks.

The Cambridgeshire barracks came under fire last year when two of its trainees were charged with the rape of a man in central Cambridge. Following this incident, two further Libyans training at Bassingbourn pleaded guilty to leaving the camp without permission and sexually assaulting residents of the city. A fifth soldier has also been charged with sexual assault.

The frequency of unauthorised trips out of the barracks, including several visits to Cambridge, had been criticised by the city’s residents in 2014 and has now been subject to further disapproval in the new report. Security at the barracks was also subject to censure:

“For the duration of the course as a whole, our view is that the security arrangements were, generally, proportionate but ultimately inadequate to prevent unauthorised egress from the camp by determined trainees.”

The civil servants went on to detail the fractured relationship between the Ministry of Defence and local governments. “In our view, the relationships between the army organisations responsible, respectively, for training delivery and community engagement were not robust, and this in turn meant that the linkage between the training unit, and local authorities and the wider community, was also not robust.”

The training scheme, which attempted to educate 2000 Libyan soldiers as part of a wider project aimed at stabilising the post-Gaddafi North African state, was cancelled late last year amongst fervent protests from Cambridgeshire residents.

The Ministry of Defence, which has received the majority of the blame for the security and communication upsets, released the following statement via a spokesperson last Friday:

“As we have previously made clear, we condemn the incidents that took place in Cambridge and Bassingbourn… We accept that communication with the local authorities and community was not good enough and we are now carefully considering how best to implement the report’s recommendations. We have been clear that this training will not be repeated at Bassingbourn”

Local reaction to the new report has been mixed. Andrew Lansley, Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire, accepted the investigation’s findings, claiming that “[the MoD] recognise they got it wrong. Unfortunately, the price was paid by... the victims of attacks.”

Lewis Herbert, the Labour leader of the Cambridge City Council on the other hand continues to call for an independent inquiry into the behaviour of troops stationed in Bassingbourn.

Mr Herbert stated: “The central issue is that the MoD ignored, and continues to fail to recognise, the seriousness of the risk that it subjected Cambridge and Bassingbourn residents to, even after serious crimes were committed.

“Victims in Cambridge of the alleged serious sexual assaults last October, and all residents of Cambridge and Bassingbourn, deserve better than the apparent complacency that has characterised the Libyan training plan from the start, and is reflected yet again in today’s summary report.

 “We welcome the sharing of more information but we have no choice but to restate our demand for an independent inquiry.”

The new report was compiled by a Ministry of Defence employee not involved with the training programme, and a civil servant from another government department.