Suffolk police handed responsibility for investigating allegations against US airman James Loubeau to the US military in August 2019, 11 days after two British women reported being drugged and raped. Court papers and prosecutors say Loubeau, 38, is accused of a pattern of attacks across East Anglia between April and July 2019 that involved drugging some women and breaking into others' homes, and that as many as six women were targeted. Three of the alleged victims were British and said the attacks occurred while Loubeau was off duty; three other alleged victims were US service personnel stationed at RAF Mildenhall. Under the 1951 US UK agreement, the American military can take jurisdiction when victims are US personnel or when a servicemember is on duty, and Suffolk police say nothing about why they ceded this case. US prosecutors described the assaults as a "frightening and dangerous" pattern and said Loubeau believed he could attack women with "impunity." In July last year a US court in Miami convicted Loubeau of sexual assault for an attack on a woman on a base in England; he received a five year prison sentence and will be monitored for two decades after release. The choice to transfer parts of the investigation to the US military, and Suffolk police's refusal to explain that decision, is likely to increase pressure on the force to justify why British courts were not allowed to pursue the allegations on UK soil.
