Bizarre questions and an all-male ‘jury’: woman strangled by US pilot in Britain tells of airbase trial

Sarah Steele endured being cross-examined at length at a military base only metres away from her attacker. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian

A woman strangled by an American fighter pilot at his home in an English city has come forward to criticise the handling of his prosecution via a US court martial, a process she described as “military first, justice second”.

Sarah Steele, a British academic, has come forward to speak about the “distressing and degrading” experience she had with the US military justice system after she was assaulted by the airman in Cambridge.