A US airman, James Loubeau, accused of a "spree" of rapes and sexual assaults in England, avoided British justice after Suffolk police handed over part of the case to the American military. Two British women reported to Suffolk police in August 2019 that Loubeau and another US airman had allegedly drugged and raped them after they met in a Bury St Edmunds nightclub.
Less than two weeks later, on 14 August 2019, Suffolk police allowed the US Air Force to take responsibility for investigating the two alleged rapes. It has since emerged that Loubeau, 38, allegedly attacked a total of six women in East Anglia over a four-month period in 2019.
Loubeau was acquitted in a military court martial in 2020. However, in July 2025, a court in Miami, Florida, convicted him of sexually assaulting one of the women on a military base in England. He received a five-year prison sentence and will be monitored for two decades after his release due to the risk he poses to the public.
Suffolk police are declining to explain their decision to cede jurisdiction in the case. Three of Loubeau's alleged victims were British and accused him of attacks while he was off-duty.