Six Women, One Us Airman on an Alleged 'Sex Attack Spree' and the Shocking Reason Why He Avoided UK Justice

A former US airman accused of a series of sexual assaults on six women in East Anglia avoided trial in British courts after Suffolk police handed the investigation to the American military. James Loubeau was later acquitted at a 2020 court martial before being convicted in Miami in 2025 and sentenced to five years in prison, followed by 20 years of supervised release.

The case has drawn fresh scrutiny to the 1951 US–UK Status of Forces Agreement, which can allow US authorities to take over investigations involving American service personnel on UK soil. For readers in Suffolk and beyond, the handover raises questions about accountability when British civilians allege serious offences by off-duty US airmen.

How the Status of Forces Agreement Moved the Case to Us Military Control

Under the Status of Forces Agreement, American military authorities can claim jurisdiction when the alleged victim is another US service member or when the offence occurs while the suspect is on duty. In almost all other cases on UK soil, British police retain primary responsibility for investigations and prosecutions.

In August 2019, two British women reported to Suffolk police that Loubeau and another US airman had drugged and raped them after meeting in a Bury St Edmunds nightclub. The Guardian reported that Suffolk police transferred the investigation to US military police eleven days later.

Court Martial Acquittal, Then US Conviction

The military's investigation appears to have covered multiple alleged victims, but the 2020 court martial focused on one American servicewoman who said Loubeau broke into her bedroom and sexually assaulted her while she was 'in and out of consciousness'. Loubeau was acquitted at that tribunal, then dismissed from the US Air Force in 2020 for what were described as 'minor infractions', including sexual advances to drunk women and shoplifting.

In 2025, following an FBI investigation that secured a DNA link, he was convicted in a federal court in Miamiof sexually assaulting a different 19-year-old servicewoman on the base in May 2019. According to a US Department of Justice press release, Loubeau pleaded guilty to two counts of abusive sexual contact and was sentenced to five years in prison, to be followed by 20 years of supervised release.

Prosecutors said Loubeau entered the victim's locked room by slipping his hand through an open window and unlatching the door from the inside. The DOJ release states that surveillance video captured Loubeau leaving the victim's room and that DNA testing later linked him to the sexual assault.

Why Suffolk Police's 2019 Decision To Hand Over the Case Faces Fresh Questions

The fact that Loubeau was convicted more than 4,000 miles from the alleged crimes, after an earlier acquittal in a closed military process, has intensified pressure on Suffolk police to explain its 2019 decision to cede jurisdiction. The force has declined to comment on the handover, according to the Guardian.

The case also spotlights broader concerns about transparency in US military justice and the practical effects of SOFA arrangements when serious off-duty offences involve British civilians. Under the agreement, the US can request that British authorities hand over a case, and the UK is only obliged to give such requests 'sympathetic consideration'.

Three of Loubeau's alleged victims were British civilians who accused him of attacking them while he was off duty, including the two women who say they were driven to RAF Mildenhall after a night out and later woke naked and confused.

A third allegation — one that never formed part of either the military tribunal or the federal case — involved a British woman who reported an assault at her Cambridgeshire home in April 2019. She reported the claim to Cambridgeshire police a year later and identified Loubeau.

Court papers seen by the Guardian suggest the American airmen offered to drive the two nightclub acquaintances home but instead took them to the base, where they were given wine and Disaronno liqueur in plastic cups before losing consciousness. Neither woman recalled how they had passed out, and both believed they had been raped, the documents state.

While the military tribunal did not find Loubeau guilty, he was discharged from the US Air Force in 2020 after three years' service and returned to the US in 2021 to live with relatives in Miami. It was not until 2025, after the FBI connected him to DNA evidence, that he faced criminal conviction over one of the six alleged assaults.