Firm getting rich off the back of hounding brave British troops accused of bully boy tactics

HIS swish North London house is worth millions, yet it is undergoing some very expensive renovations.

Homeowner Martin Jerrold’s vision is a grand design with an estimated budget of £250,000.

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But the real cost of his spacious extension is one of human misery — of hundreds of British soldiers hounded by Jerrold’s firm through methods some say could be criminal.

Jerrold, 45, is the boss of recruitment company Red Snapper, which he describes as the “de facto HR team” for the Government’s scandalous Iraq Historical Allegations Team (IHAT).

It rakes in £4.8million a year from the Government contract it has held since February 2013.

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IHAT was set up in 2010 by the Government to look into claims of misconduct by British troops in Iraq, amid claims that such an investigation would avoid a lengthy process through the International Criminal Court.

But critics say the ICC is only likely to have stepped in if misconduct was shown to be systematic, rather than simply isolated incidents.

IHAT is investigating around 1,500 cases of alleged abuses. Operation Northmoor is another probe, this one looking into alleged abuses in Afghanistan.

It recently said it was investigating more than 600 allegations by 150 individuals.

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Some of the spurious claims being investigated — and widely condemned by MPs, military personnel and the public — include allegations of soldiers putting hoods on Iraqi captives, infringing their human rights.

Of IHAT’s 145 staff, 127 are supplied by Red Snapper. Most are retired police officers paid up to £260 a day to interview Iraqis in the Middle East before following up complaints with soldiers in Britain.

But those wages are dwarfed by the £638,799 dividend Jerrold and his wife Helen, 41, the company’s finance director, have taken out of the firm over the past two years.

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Last week MPs on the Defence Select Committee grilled Jerrold over claims of serious misconduct by his staff.

Now a Sun investigation can reveal the most damning claims levelled against Red Snapper.

Red Snapper staff are alleged to have THREATENED soldiers with arrest despite having no such power, and INTIMIDATED troops after falsely introducing themselves as police.

Jerrold claims his outfit has no operational control over the enquiry, purely providing staff and training.

But statements from soldiers pursued by IHAT raise questions over what that training might involve.

Highly commended former Army officer Rachel Webster, 48, was physically restrained in her own home by Royal Naval Police under the supervision of Red Snapper staff investigating an allegation in January 2014.

Friends say she was left “shocked and humiliated” by an experience, “tantamount to being ­kidnapped by the state”.

No charges were brought against Rachel who got £5,000 compensation from the MoD following the scuffle, where her breasts were exposed.

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Lawyer Hilary Meredith, who is in contact with around 200 former soldiers being pursued by IHAT, said: “In many cases, Red Snapper investigators have threatened subjects with arrest unless they agreed to answer questions.

"This is to soldiers who are often being confronted without warning at their own houses, at those of relatives, even at their barrack gates.

“In one instance a soldier’s commanding officer was present and asked to see Red Snapper’s paperwork, at which point they admitted they had no authority to make an arrest.

“Other soldiers have been actively refused access to a lawyer and forced to answer questions without one.”

An IHAT representative said: “We do not recognise the incidents Hilary Meredith is describing. If she provides information relating to such incidents we will look into it.”

Richard Kemp CBE, former Army commander in Iraq and Afghanistan, said: “I’ve spoken to a number of soldiers who have been dealt with by Red Snapper in ways which are just appalling.

“One soldier had Red Snapper staff come to his house and introduce themselves as a ‘Sergeant’ and ‘Constable’, not mentioning they were no longer serving officers.

“This cowboy civilian outfit then grilled him on the events of over a decade ago — a hugely stressful ordeal for a soldier who has seen friends injured and killed. That individual was left hugely fearful that he may now face prosecution.

“I know of instances in which this investigation has caused marital breakdown and attempted suicides.”

Many military are unsure whether contacting a lawyer might breach the Official Secrets Act — leaving them to confront the claims alone.

Former Army officer Johnny Mercer MP, who sits on the Defence Select Committee, told The Sun: “There are clearly some practices at play which are not acceptable.

“I’ve seen emails from people at a senior level in the Army who seem to have no idea how to deal with these investigators, who have no idea of the rights or responsibilities of individuals under investigation.

“It seems to me that Red Snapper are exploiting this process.

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“Any inappropriate behaviour by those carrying out the investigation absolutely must be stopped.”

Quizzed by MPs last week over some of the allegations of inappropriate conduct by his staff, Jerrold said: “It must be happening because there is too much of a pattern.”

He also said the charges laid against his workers would constitute “very serious breaches” of his firm’s “rules and regulation and training”.

An IHAT statement last week revealed that in the past year five Red Snapper employees were let go “as a result of performance or ­conduct-related concerns”.

Martin Jerrold said: “I can personally confirm that none were related in any way to these allegations.”

Red Snapper’s huge payday comes despite IHAT so far being unable to produce a single conviction.

Many cases involve soldiers who have been CLEARED of any wrongdoing by the military, only to have the claims re-opened by law firms chasing compensation cases.

These firms include Public Interest Lawyers, which represents 1,300 Iraqis. Recently it announced it would close due to a police investigation into bribery.

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One soldier cleared of wrongdoing over the 2003 death of a 19-year-old Iraqi near Basra, who is now facing investigation by IHAT, called the whole initiative a “betrayal”.

The soldier told Radio 4’s Today programme: “The Army has surrendered its own powers of discipline and investigation to a private company and betrayed its finest people to protect itself from scrutiny at the highest levels.”

A decorated former Army Major this week revealed he had told Defence Secretary Michael Fallon that he would prefer to face a war crimes trial at The Hague than continue to deal with IHAT.

Since winning the IHAT contract, turnover at the 70-strong firm, based in central London, has almost trebled from £7.6million to £20.5million last year and is now said by Jerrold to be £32million.

When contacted by The Sun, Martin Jerrold said: “As part of our own quality assurance process we take any allegations of this nature extremely seriously. To date we have not received any complaints or received evidence to support any of these claims.”

He said his firm made only “modest profits”, adding: “We are very proud of the business.”