Lt Col Michael Morris, the former assistant military attaché at the US Embassy in London, faces formal US military charges after being flown out of the United Kingdom in August, before British police could question him. The US Air Force has confirmed that charges have been preferred against him, and a military hearing is due this month at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where officials will decide whether the case should go to a court-martial. But what, exactly, is he charged with?

The charges listed against Morris

Reporting by the Press Association lists the formal charges as possession and distribution of “child pornography”, obstructing justice, and “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman”. That list has not come from a published Air Force charge sheet: the Air Force’s own public statement said only that charges had been preferred and would be reviewed, and added that no further information would be released until a disposition decision is made. No case number has been published.

That distinction matters. The charges as reported are allegations, and the Air Force has stressed that Morris is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. He will enter a plea only if the case is referred to a court-martial, the US military’s formal criminal trial.

How the case reached this point

Morris served as an assistant military attaché at the American embassy in Nine Elms, south-west London. American investigators allege that his brother, Benjamin Morris, shared child sexual abuse material with him. Benjamin Morris, 33, is facing trial in the US state of Illinois for the possession and dissemination of child sexual abuse material, which he denies. He has pleaded not guilty, demanded a jury trial, and remains in custody without bond, according to local reporting on the Illinois case. The Rock Island County state attorney, Dora Villareal, told the BBC that the allegations against Benjamin Morris relate to March and April 2026.

Morris was flown out of the UK on a civilian flight in August. The Metropolitan Police said US authorities made them aware of an investigation into suspected offences involving indecent images of children on Tuesday, 25 August, and that the force has remained in regular contact with them since. The US embassy said it had informed UK law enforcement and reassigned Morris to the United States while inquiries continued. The UK government said at the time: “We expect all foreign diplomats in the UK to abide by our laws, in the same way we expect all UK diplomats to do so when posted overseas.”

Morris is now assigned to the Air Force District of Washington while the case proceeds through the US military justice system.

What the November hearing will decide

At the hearing at Joint Base Andrews, the charges and the evidence will be reviewed to determine whether the case should be tried by court-martial. A court-martial has not yet been decided, and no date for a trial has been set. No hearing date within November has been confirmed publicly.

If the case is referred to a court-martial, Morris will then enter a plea and the matter will go to a full military trial. If it is not referred, the case could be dealt with in another way or dropped, but no outcome has been announced. Military.com, reporting the BBC’s account, confirms the same sequence: charges preferred, a November hearing at Joint Base Andrews, and a plea only on referral.

Why the case raises jurisdiction questions

The fact that Morris left the UK before being questioned has raised questions about jurisdiction, because the alleged offences are said to have taken place while he was posted in London, and the case is now being handled entirely through the US military justice system rather than by British police and courts.

The case has drawn comparisons with two earlier ones. In 2019, US state department employee Anne Sacoolas left the country shortly after causing the death of teenager Harry Dunn, after the US asserted diplomatic immunity on her behalf; she eventually pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving at a virtual High Court hearing in December 2022 and was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for a year. In a separate case, American fighter pilot Captain Jacob Wulfson was tried at a court-martial on a US airbase and jailed for six months after being convicted of strangulation; he was acquitted of charges of sexual assault and aggravated sexual contact.

For now, the position is unchanged from late October, when the charges were first confirmed: a senior US Air Force officer who worked at the London embassy faces military charges, a hearing is due this month in the United States, and the allegations against him have not been proven.