Sailor cleared of raping female submariner at Faslane

A Royal Navy sailor who served on board a nuclear submarine wept in the dock as he was cleared of raping a colleague at the Faslane Naval Base on the Clyde. Jake Wilson, 38, from Gosport in Hampshire, was accused of carrying out the sex attack in an accommodation block in May 2023. Prosecutors also alleged he repeatedly sexually assaulted another female submariner, including an incident where it was claimed he slapped her bottom in the submarine control room. But, following a four-day trial, jurors at the High Court in Livingston found the petty officer not guilty of both charges by a majority verdict. A female submariner had previously told the court she had been celebrating a colleague's qualification on board the submarine and back at the mess base bar. She said the sexual assault happened in her cabin in an accommodation block on the base at Gare Loch. Wilson, who pleaded not guilty to both charges, lodged a special defence to the rape charge that the complainer consented to sexual activity. A warship's new "grazing galley" aims to stop sailors missing meals due to work demands. The board game invented by the Royal Navy in the 18th Century is still played today. Commemorative e